Rajiv, not Rao, to blame for riots, says BJP

New Delhi, December 5

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s observation on 1984 anti-Sikh riots has drawn sharp criticism from the BJP, which alleged that Rajiv Gandhi supported the massacre and was thus responsible.

“Manmohan Singh ji said peace could have been established during the 1984 riots if then Home Minister PV Narasimha Rao had called the Army. This was the right of the PM. The PM was Rajiv Gandhi. Rajivji said when a big tree falls, the earth shakes. This was his endorsement for the carnage,” Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said.

Speaking at an event to commemorate former PMIK Gujral, Manmohan Singh had said Gujral had told Rao to bring in the Army to contain the anti-Sikh violence after then PMIndira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

Javadekar also asked Singh if Rao was so “bad”, why he chose to become Finance Minister in his government in 1991. Javadekar blamed Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded Indira Gandhi as the PMthat very night for the riots. — TNS