With the Bharat Jodo Yatra set to begin its Punjab leg, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday paid obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) urged the people to boycott the yatra, the Shiromani Akali Dal asked Mr. Gandhi to clarigy his stand on Operation Bluestar and the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.
BJP national spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill on Tuesday said the Congress’s anti-Sikh sentiment had not washed away, but had only flourished and nourished with the passage of time.
“While on the one hand, the country is witnessing the BJP honouring the Sikh community, respecting their sentiments by dedicating December 26 (martyrdom day of Sahibzadas) as Veer Bal Divas, the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor and securing Sri Guru Granth Sahib safely from war-torn Afghanistan, on the other hand, the Congress has been openly crowning those responsible for the anti-Sikh riots in 1984. Being anti-Sikh is the true character of the Congress,” he said.
Desperate attempt
Mr. Shergill described the yatra as completely “directionless” and a “desperate attempt” to capture power. He said Mr. Gandhi had no “moral right” to take out the yatra in Punjab when the Congress had spared no attempt to alienate the Sikh community.
“I appeal to the people of Punjab to completely boycott the yatra,” he said.
The march entered Punjab on Tuesday, and would commence its State leg from Fatehgarh Sahib on January 11.
Senior SAD leader Maheshinder Singh Grewal said, “Mr. Gandhi should tell the people of Punjab if he justified Operation Bluestar or condemned it.”
Mr. Grewal asked Mr. Gandhi to clarify why successive Congress governments at the Centre did not implement the Rajiv-Longowal Accord. The accord, which had been approved by Parliament, had called for the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab on January 26, 1986.
