New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) Delhi Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Thursday strongly criticised Indian Overseas Congress President Sam Pitroda for questioning the relevance of discussing events from four decades ago, particularly in the context of the 1984 anti-Sikh killings, and accused the Gandhi family of applying different standards to historical events.
Reacting to Pitroda’s remarks on Sonia Gandhi’s recently released book, Sirsa alleged that the Congress leadership used Pitroda to make statements it was unwilling to make directly.
“When Sam Pitroda was asked about Sonia Gandhi’s book today, he repeated the same old argument. These people use others to wash away their sins and make Sam Pitroda say things they cannot say themselves. Today, he again asked why people were discussing events from 40 years ago,” Sirsa said.
Sirsa questioned why historical events mentioned in Sonia Gandhi’s book should be discussed while references to the 1984 anti-Sikh killings should allegedly be considered irrelevant because they took place four decades ago.
“If Sonia Gandhi writes about events from 50 years ago in her book, those matters should also be discussed. But when it comes to the 1984 anti-Sikh killings, Sam Pitroda asks why we are discussing an incident from 40 years ago and why it should be brought up today. He even dragged Lord Hanuman and Lord Ram into the discussion,” he said.
Sirsa described the remarks as shameful and accused the Gandhi family of maintaining different standards for historical issues raised by different communities.
“This is highly shameful; there is an undeclared concept that whatever the Gandhi family says is considered right and true, and if they raise a 50-year-old issue, it is right, but if the Sikh community raises a 40-year-old issue then that is not justified,” he added.
Earlier, speaking to IANS, Pitroda had questioned the need to repeatedly revisit events that took place more than 40 years ago, saying the focus should instead be on building a better future.
“What is the sense in talking about something that happened 40 years ago now? I have said many times there has been so much conversation on it. You know, let the people in court and others decide. Why do we just dig things up and throw mud? I don’t understand our attitude. What does that have to do with today? How long can you go on with this? You’ve got to look at the future,” Pitroda said.
He further urged people to move beyond historical controversies and focus on national development.
“That was more than 40 years ago. And this has been going on. Let’s look at the future. Let’s move on. Let’s design a better, prosperous, peaceful nation for everybody. That should be the agenda. Not what happened in Ram’s time, or why did Hanuman go here, why did he lift the mountain?” Pitroda added.
–IANS
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