india

Updated: May 10, 2019 12:52 IST

Union minister Arun Jaitley on Friday asked whether Congress president Rahul Gandhi will oust party’s Overseas chief Sam Pitroda for his comment on the 1984 Sikh genocide that “It (riots) happened in 1984, so what?”

“Will the Congress President oust his ‘Guru’, who rubbishes the genocide of India’s most patriotic community in 1984?” Jaitley tweeted.

“Sam Pitroda’s ‘Hua to Hua’ reaction to the 1984 Sikh killings is reflective of the lack of remorse on the part of Congress Party with respect to the 1984 genocide,” he wrote in another tweet.

“It is a matter of disgrace that the Congress Party has no remorse over the Sikh killings of 1984,” he added.

Pitroda, when asked about BJP’s claim that instructions to ‘kill’ in 1984 had come from late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, said, “It (riots) happened in 1984, so what?”

On the other hand, Pitroda accused the BJP of “twisting his words and distorting facts” to “hide their failures.” He also said he had acknowledged the pain of Sikhs during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

“I have noticed how BJP is again twisting three words from my interview to distort facts, divide us and hide their failures. Sad that they have nothing positive to offer. I acknowledged the pain of my Sikh brothers and sisters during difficult times in 1984 and deeply feel for the atrocities that happened. But these are things from past that are not really relevant to this election which is all about what did Modi government do for the last five years,” Pitroda tweeted on Friday.

He went on to say that the BJP is attacking the Congress with such “lies” as it has no vision “to take India forward.”

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)