Author: Staff
Publication: The Sikh Times
Date: September 2, 1999
URL: http://www.sikhtimes.com/news_090299a.html
Former finance minister Manmohan Singh, Congress
candidate for the Lok Sabha from South Delhi, today accused the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh [R.S.S.], ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party
[B.J.P.], of being involved in the 1984 anti-Sikh carnage in the capital.
Addressing reporters at the Press Club of
India, Dr. Singh said the 1984 riots were 'a black spot and the saddest event.'
But the Congress as an organisation had no role in it, he claimed. 'It should
not have happened.'
He pointed out that in 1984 he was awarded
the Padma Vibhushan by the President of India. Had there been any institutionalised
anti-Sikh bias in the Congress, which was then the ruling party, he would
not have got the coveted award, he argued. The first information reports lodged
at different police stations in Delhi prove that several R.S.S. men were involved
in the riots, Dr. Singh said.
He dismissed as 'BJP propaganda' reports that
Sikh voters had asked him during campaigning how they could vote for a party
that had 'blood on its hands.' He said the B.J.P. had no right to dictate
from where he could contest. 'How can they prevent me from contesting an election
just because I am a Sikh?' he challenged.