BJP equally responsible for Blue Star, '84 riots: Punjab ex-CM Channi
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.
Channi, who was accompanied by the CLP leader of Punjab, Partap Singh Bajwa, said the Congress had apologised for the operation targeting Harmandir Sahib and the riots, and the BJP should also do so.
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.
The former CM said the concern expressed by Rahul Gandhi about the state of religious freedom of the minorities in BJP-ruled India was justified and every Sikh and non-Sikh resident of Punjab agreed with Rahul on the issue.
When farmers were agitating against the farm laws brought in by the BJP, they were unfairly called "Khalistanis" by the BJP, the Congress leaders said.
Raising the issue of slogan shouting by a Sikh leader of the BJP in Delhi recently, warning Rahul that he would be assassinated in the same fashion as his grandmother Indira Gandhi was, the Punjab leaders said it was strange that the BJP leader had not yet been arrested. If there was further delay, they would file an FIR against the Sikh BJP leader, they said, demanding upgrade of the security of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
They also expressed surprise that the BJP had not taken action against Kangana Ranaut, despite the Mandi MP saying that farmers took money to take part in the agitation against the farm laws.
