New Delhi, Sept, 13
Two top Punjab Congress leaders on Friday alleged that the BJP, its leader LK Advani and their ideological mentor, the RSS, were equally responsible for Operation Blue Star and the anti-Sikh riots that took place in the country after the assassination of PM Indira Gandhi in 1984.
They said it was time the BJP apologised for its role in the Army operation and the massacre of Sikhs.
Responding to a question at a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Charanjit Singh Channi, Lok Sabha member and former Punjab Chief Minister, said Advani had admitted in his book that Operation Blue Star was launched as a result of pressure built by the BJP on the Congress government, then in power at the Centre, demanding strong action against Punjab militants. Advani had also written that the 1984 riots were a backlash, Channi said.
Channi, who was accompanied by the CLP leader of Punjab, Partap Singh Bajwa, said the Congress had already apologised for the military operation targeting Harmandir Sahib and the riots, and the BJP should also do so. On the continuance of riot accused Jagdish Tytler in the Congress, Channi said the BJP had been in power at the Centre for the last 10 years, and it should take appropriate action against those guilty.
He said the BJP had twisted what Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had recently said during an interaction in the US. What Rahul said had struck a chord with the Sikhs and the BJP resented it, he claimed.
