Ghosts of 1984

THE turbulent events of 1984 continue to be a burdensome baggage for the Congress. The Sikh psyche was scarred by the Army action on the Golden Temple and the anti-Sikh violence that broke out in Delhi and other cities after PM Indira Gandhi’s assassination. The wounds are yet to heal, and there is still no sense of closure. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent admission that “the party committed a lot of mistakes when he was not there” is a step towards reconciliation with the Sikh community, though it has come rather late in the day.

Rahul has said that he is “more than happy” to take responsibility for everything wrong the party did in its history. He must also take a fair share of the blame for the acts of omission when he — or his mother Sonia Gandhi — was holding the party’s reins. The Nanavati Commission report on the 1984 riots implicated Congress leaders such as Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, but the party high command did not weed out the black sheep. Another leader suspected of inciting rioters, Kamal Nath, was appointed CM of Madhya Pradesh in December 2018, when Rahul was the party president. True, the Nanavati panel had given Nath the benefit of the doubt, but why did Rahul prefer to ignore the damning testimonies of witnesses?

Ironically, it was Manmohan Singh, India’s lone Sikh PM, who apologised to the community and the nation for the riots, even though the Gandhi family should have done the needful. An apology by Sonia or Rahul on the floor of Parliament would have gone a long way towards letting bygones be bygones and moving on. The least that Rahul can do now is to ensure that tainted veterans are expelled from the party. That would lend credibility to his repentance.

Editorials