Amarinder says Congress as party not involved in anti-Sikh riots

Chandigarh: Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh on Sunday hit out at the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for attacking Rahul Gandhi on the issue of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, saying the Congress, as a party, was never involved in the carnage.

Rahul Gandhi was in school when the Operation Blue Star and later the riots took place, Amarinder Singh said, adding “whosoever was involved” in the senseless killings in 1984 should be “hanged”.

The SAD had on Saturday hit out at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi over his remarks on the 1984 riots, saying by disagreeing with the view that his party was involved in the “genocide”, he had “rubbed salt into the wounds” of the Sikh community.

Earlier, describing the 1984 riots as a “very painful tragedy”, Rahul Gandhi, who was on a two-day visit to the UK, had said, “It was a tragedy, it was a painful experience. You say that the Congress party was involved in that, I don’t agree with that. Certainly there was violence, certainly there was tragedy.”

Hitting out at SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Amarinder Singh said the Congress chief was in school when Operation Bluestar and later the riots took place.