The Hindu : Front Page : Anti-Sikh riots wrong, punish the guilty: Rahul

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Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008
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Anti-Sikh riots wrong, punish the guilty: Rahul

Amritsar: During a visit to the city of the Golden Temple on Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi reached out to Sikhs terming “absolutely wrong” the riots against this community in 1984 following the assassination of his grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

“The 1984 riots were absolutely wrong. They [the perpetrators] should be brought to justice,” he said in reply to a question at a press conference here.

On other issues, Mr. Gandhi asked the Bharatiya Janata Party to introspect on the links between the Malegaon blast suspects and its affiliates, and said the government was doing a good job in containing terrorism. “BJP should have a look into the links which the Malegaon accused have with the party.”

To a question on BJP leader L.K. Advani’s allegation that the Congress was “politicising” terror, he said, “I have no response.”

“Advaniji has the view that the Congress is politicising terror. Maybe, the BJP should take a look into what it does.”

“Yes, I am a bachcha”

Mr. Gandhi hit back at BJP president Rajnath Singh, who on Monday called him a ‘bachcha’ (child) in politics. “Compared to the likes of Rajnath Singh and other senior leaders, I am a bachcha. It is a fact. I am a much younger person.”

The 38-year-old MP from Amethi said ‘bachcha’ could be defined by the way one looked at things. “I think in a completely different way. They think in a sort of political way. And he is right, I am a complete ‘bachcha’ compared to him.”

“He [Rajnath] would not have the desired impact as the country looks at things in a different manner. It is the way of looking things differently.”

On the BJP leader “raising the bogey of experience,” Mr. Gandhi said “fortunately or unfortunately, 70 per cent of this country is ‘bachcha.’

“So, maybe we need to be thinking what youngsters of this country think about and believe in. But, yes compared to Rajnath Singh, I do not have half the experience he has.”

Mr. Gandhi said Mr. Singh “should perhaps look at this bachcha part of India.”

The AICC general secretary attacked Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray for the kind of politics he was practising.— PTI

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