Marking an acknowledgement of the Congress’s troubled legacy, Rahul Gandhi said he is willing to take responsibility for the party’s historical wrongs, including the 1984 anti-Sikh riots—a gesture that stirred emotions and provoked a sharp BJP backlash. A report by Bijoy Patro
In a rare admission, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has declared himself “ready to take responsibility” for the Congress party’s historical wrongs, including the 1984 anti-Sikh riots – one of independent India’s dark chapters. The remark, made during a public interaction at Brown University in the United States on April 21, has reignited political debate and drawn sharp responses from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and Sikh groups in India and abroad.
The 1984 anti-Sikh riots were triggered by the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, by her Sikh bodyguards. What followed was a wave of mob violence in Delhi and other cities, which led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 Sikhs and left a deep scar on India’s national conscience. Numerous Congress leaders were accused of inciting the violence.
Speaking at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Gandhi was confronted by a Sikh student who asked him what the Congress party was doing to reconcile with the Sikh community. Gandhi replied: “As far as mistakes of the Congress party are concerned, a lot of those mistakes happened when I was not there, but I am more than happy to take responsibility for everything that the Congress party has ever done wrong in its history.”
Gandhi, who has shown signs of altruism in his politics, continued, “I have publicly stated that what happened in the 1980s was wrong. I have been to the Golden Temple multiple times, I have an extremely good and loving relationship with the Sikh community.”
The student’s question highlighted not only the anti-Sikh riots but also Operation Blue Star – the 1984 military action at the Golden Temple in Amritsar to flush out separatists led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The Army assault left the Akal Takht heavily damaged and killed hundreds, sparking outrage across the Sikh community and setting the stage for the events that followed.
“You haven’t reconciled with the Sikhs,” the student charged, citing the Congress party’s branding of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution as separatist, and the lack of accountability for leaders like Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler. The student also pointed out the Congress party’s past stances that curtailed Sikh expressions of identity, while noting Gandhi’s warnings about the BJP’s treatment of minorities: “You tell us to fear what BJP’s India would look like. But what about your party’s record?”
