Tajinder Bagga says this is his response to Rahul Gandhi’s London statement, alleges Rajiv Gandhi set the mob on Sikhs in 1984.
New Delhi: Angry at Rahul Gandhi’s statement that the Congress was not involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga decided to put up hoardings calling Rahul’s father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ‘the father of mob lynching’.
The hoardings have sprung up over large swathes of the capital.
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Asked by ThePrint why he felt the need to take this step, Bagga confirmed it was in response to Rahul’s 24 August statement in London.
“We feel it is necessary to tell Rahul Gandhi and everyone else that not only Congress people, but Rajiv Gandhi was also involved in the Sikh riots. If Rahul Gandhi is denying all connections with the riots, we thought people should know if there is any actual link or not,” Sikh leader Bagga said.
“Before 2014, I have never heard the words ‘mob lynching’. Congress introduced the phrase by painting small incidents as ‘mob lynchings’ and then connecting it to Narendra Modi. But Rajiv Gandhi was the producer of the biggest mob lynching in India. Even if he was the Prime Minister of the country, he was the one who ordered so many people to be killed in 1984,” Bagga alleged.
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He also took the names of Congress leaders like Sajjan Kumar, Kamal Nath and Jagdish Tytler, who have been accused of the riots, and pointed out that they were still members of the party.
“As an Indian and as a Sikh, I felt I should expose him (Rahul Gandhi),” he added.
Asked who had authorised these hoardings, Bagga said any political party could put up these hoardings, but that he had done so in a personal capacity.
“This is my response, not the party’s,” he said.
Congress’ angry response
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera lashed out at Bagga’s hoardings, calling them “cheap politics” and “politically wrong”, while also alleging that the BJP is trying to play with the sentiments of Sikhs.
“All those names which were involved in the Sikh riots from the Congress are facing legal action. The Congress party did not even wait for the court’s judgment, and decided to take away their tickets and stop them from participating in elections,” Khera claimed.
“Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi have regretted and apologised for 1984… But here you have a man who was involved in the 2002 Gujarat riots, who is now the Prime Minister of India. No one from the BJP or Narendra Modi has apologised for 2002,” he alleged.