Rahul must apologise in front of Akal Takht for crimes against Sikhs: BJP

New Delhi : The BJP on Friday said the Congress is identified with 1984 anti-Sikh riots and slammed its President Rahul Gandhi for invoking Guru Nanak Dev during his address in Berlin. The BJP also demanded his apology for the heinous crime against Sikhs.

“Rahulji is invoking Guru Nanak Devji merely for vote-bank politics. For him, Sikhs are merely a vote bank,” BJP national secretary Sardar R.P. Singh said. “Rahul should apologise for the heinous crime in front of Akal Takht at Golden Temple in Amritsar,” he said.

He was referring to the Congress leader’s remarks while addressing the Indian diaspora in Berlin on Wednesday night. In his address, Gandhi said that the BJP and RSS were weakening the country “by causing divisions and spreading hatred.”

Singh said that Gandhi’s thoughts are actually in line with the “Congress culture of divide and rule”.

“We think that his thinking does not resemble with the thinking of Guru Nanak Devji, but his thinking resembles the ideology of Congress, the culture which divided the country and has only tried to rule the country,” Singh said.

The BJP leader also said that the Congress President referred to Sikhs as a friend in need . “To take votes you have a friendship, but when the justice for Sikhs is sought, you can’t see the same friendship,” he said.

“You and your party always promoted people like Sajjan (Kumar), (H.K.L.) Bhagat, (Jagadish) Tytler, Kamal Nath,” he said.

He also said that about 3,000 Sikhs died in Delhi in 1984. “The Home Minister at that time said that only 600 people had died, but the real list was given in Parliament by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji that 3,000 people died in the massacre. That forced the government to accept that about 2,700 people died in Delhi,” he added.

Published on Aug 24, 2018 at 20:47 IST

IANS