Senior Congress leaders and ministers from Punjab on Saturday defended party president Rahul Gandhi over his statement he made about 1984 riots in london. They alleged that the Akalis were deliberately distorting his remarks to divert public attention after being exposed for their role in Bargadi sacrilege and subsequent killing of innocent Sikhs protesting the sacrilege in Kotkapura.
In a joint statement here, the leaders said, the Badal family, including Sukhbir Singh Badal, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Bikram Singh Majithia, were trying to distort Rahul’s statement in order to divert the attention from the Justice Ranjit Singh Commission Report on Bargadi issue that is going to prove as death knell for them.
The ministers and leaders including Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and Kuljit Nagra said that Rahul Gandhi had clearly and unequivocally condemned the riots. They pointed out, Sonia Gandhi had personally gone to Darbar Sahab and apologised and so had former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh expressed regrets on the issue. “And now trying to drag Rahul into the issue is highly condemnable”, they said.