I wasn’t there during many Congress’ mistakes, but happy to take responsibility: Rahul Gandhi on 1984 Sikh riots

His remarks were made on April 21 during an interactive session at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at the Brown University in the US

New Delhi: Responding to a question related to 1984 riots and the Congress’ relationship with the Sikh community, Rahul Gandhi has said that a lot of the “mistakes” the Congress committed happened when he was not there, but added that he was more than happy to take responsibility for everything the party has ever done wrong in its history.

Gandhi pointed out that he has publicly stated that what happened in the 80s was “wrong”. The remarks by Gandhi were made on April 21 during an interactive session at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at the Brown University in the US.

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The video of the interaction was uploaded on the YouTube channel of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs on Saturday.

A Sikh student asked a question as to what attempts he was making to reconcile with the Sikh community and referred to the 1984-Sikh riots in his lengthy poser.

The student also referred to Gandhi’s remark during an earlier visit to the US during which he had said the fight he was fighting was about whether Sikhs would be allowed to wear a turban in India or not.

In his reply, Gandhi said, “I don’t think that anything scares the Sikhs. The statement I made was that, do we want an India where people are uncomfortable to express their religion? As far as mistakes of the Congress party are concerned, a lot of those mistakes happened when I was not there, but I am more than happy to take responsibility for everything that the Congress party has ever done wrong in its history.”

“I have publicly stated that what happened in the 80s was wrong, I have been to the Golden Temple multiple times, I have an extremely good relationship with the Sikh community in India and a loving relationship with them,” the Leader of the Opposition, Lok Sabha said.

Tagging that segment of the interaction, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said on Saturday, “‘You haven’t reconciled with the Sikhs’, a young man tells Rahul Gandhi to his face, reminding him of the unfounded fear-mongering he engaged in during his last visit to the US.” “It is quite unprecedented that Rahul Gandhi is now being ridiculed not just in India, but around the world,” Malviya said.

The BJP also attacked Gandhi for calling Lord Ram “a mythological figure” at the same interaction.

During the interaction, Gandhi had said, “All great political thinkers, social reformers and you go back 3000 years — Buddha, Guru Nanak, Basava in Karnataka, Narayana Guru in Kerala, Phule, Gandhi, Ambedkar, and you see one stream. None of these are bigots. None of these people were saying — ‘we want to kill people, we want to isolate people, we want to crush people, we believe that things should be done in one particular way’. All these people, the voices of whom are in our Constitution, are essentially saying the same thing, that carry everybody along (and emphasising on) truth and nonviolence.”

“This to me is the bedrock of Indian tradition and Indian history. I don’t know one person whom we consider great in India who wasn’t of this type. All our mythological figures, Lord Ram was of that kind, where he was forgiving, he was compassionate. So, I don’t consider what the BJP says to be the Hindu idea at all. I consider the Hindu idea to be much more pluralistic, much more embracing, much more affectionate, much more tolerant and open,” Gandhi said.

There are many people in every single state and every community who stood for those ideas, lived for those ideas and died for those ideas, he had said at the US interaction.

“And Gandhiji is one of those people, probably the best in modern times but there are many of them. To me, hatred and anger against people come from fear. If you are not scared, you don’t hate anybody,” he said. Further, Gandhi also slammed the BJP and called it a “fringe group”.

“I don’t view the BJP conception as a Hindu conception. In terms of thinking, they are a fringe group, they are not mainstream. Now that they have captured political power, they have got a huge amount of wealth and they have got power, but they don’t represent the large majority of Indian thinkers by any means,” Gandhi had said.

Reacting to Gandhi’s remarks, Malviya said on Sunday, “Bhagwan Ram is not a mythological figure, he embodies the values, culture, and spiritual essence of Bharat. He represents maryada, sacrifice, and righteous leadership, which have shaped our civilisation for thousands of years. He is the soul of Bharat and central to who we are as people.”

“Rahul Gandhi and the Congress should stop ridiculing the beliefs of billions of Hindus around the world. People like him and political parties will come and go, but Bhagwan Ram will forever remain a timeless symbol of dharma and an inspiration for generations to come,” Malviya said.