AAP, BJP Sikh leaders release Rajiv Gandhi’s video ‘justifying’ 1984 riots

AAP, BJP Sikh leaders release Rajiv Gandhi’s video ‘justifying’ 1984 riots

New Delhi: Demanding that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna award be withdrawn, AAP leader and senior advocate HS Phoolka and BJP's RP Singh on Thursday released the old video of the former wherein he can be seen justifying the 1984 anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of his mother Indira Gandhi saying "when a big tree falls, the earth shakes".

The video was released by Phoolka and Singh on Indira Gandhi's birth anniversary on Thursday during a press conference in New Delhi.

Phoolka has been fighting for securing justice for 1984 Sikh riots victims. He demanded that Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna Award be withdrawn for his provocative remarks, accusing him of justifying the 1984 'genocide', The Indian Express reported.

"In 1984, on this day, nation's prime minister had justified the killing of 3, 000 Sikhs in his address at the boat club in the national capital. He had said that when a big tree falls then the earth shakes. Instead of punishing the culprits of such mass murder, he was justifying it," said Phoolka.

"A Prime Minister who takes three years even to count the dead bodies of innocent citizens killed in open broad daylight in the capital, a Prime Minister whose party was responsible for a massacre, cannot be a Bharat Ratna. We demand Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna's be taken back," he said.

Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday said Indira Gandhi taught the nation to stay united and people must follow that path.

"We must learn as much as we can from the life of Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Maulana Azad…Indira Gandhi taught us how to stand united," the Congress president said in her speech to commemorate the 98th birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi at the Indian Youth Congress convention here.

"She dedicated her life to the unity of our country," she said.

Sonia Gandhi said the late prime minister always stood for inclusion and equality, and lauded her for her farsightedness and ushering in Green Revolution in India.

(With inputs from IANS)

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