‘Withdraw Bharat Ratna awarded to Rajiv Gandhi’

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The Hindu

BJP general secretary R.P. Singh (centre) with AAP member H.S. Phoolka (left) and advocate Tajinder Pal Singh address the media in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Cutting across party lines, Aam Aadmi Party member H.S. Phoolka and BJP general secretary R.P. Singh on Thursday demanded that the Bharat Ratna awarded to late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi be withdrawn because of comments he made after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The leaders, who have been working for the riot victims in their personal capacities, said the Congress leader had “justified” the violence that erupted after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

“Today is the 31{+s}{+t}anniversary of the speech made by Rajiv Gandhi where he said ‘when a big tree falls, the earth shakes’. The Prime Minister of the country justified the massacre of Sikhs. How can such a person be a Bharat Ratna,” asked Mr. Phoolka.

Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi’s mother, was assassinated on October 31 by her Sikh bodyguards. Riots, or what the Sikh community calls genocide, erupted across India, with about 3,000 Sikhs being killed in Delhi alone.

Mr. Phoolka said it had taken the Rajiv Gandhi government three years to “count the dead”. The Congress government, in fact, had given Cabinet roles to party leaders accused of inciting the violence.

Mr. Singh said Rajiv Gandhi’s speech at the Boat Club on November 19, 1984, wasn’t the only instance where he tried to justify the anti-Sikh violence.

“We could have said that as a politician and Indira’s son he may have been emotional while giving that speech. But, the Congress proceeded to carry out an entire election campaign based on creating communal differences,” said Mr. Singh.

At a joint press conference on Thursday, which was also Indira Gandhi’s birth anniversary, Mr. Phoolka and Mr. Singh played a clip of the speech, which they say was the first time since it was recorded.

“The governments had succeeded in deleting the footage from archives. But, we managed to obtain it somehow,” said Mr. Phoolka.

A Congress advertisement that made an oblique reference to the Sikh community was also shared at the press conference. The advertisement reads “Why should you feel uncomfortable riding in a taxi driven by a taxi driver who belongs to another state?”. Mr. Phoolka explained that at that time most taxi drivers were Sikhs.

The two leaders also announced the launch of an all-party group to seek justice for the victims. They said politicians from other parties were welcome to join.

Tajinder Pal Singh, an attorney who lost his father-in-law and brother-in-law in the violence, said it was not a political issue. “Rajiv Gandhi spoke about the earth shaking. The earth only shook for one community. I feel it every day in my house,” said Mr. Singh.