Senior Congress leader, Sam Pitroda, has been making a spree of outrageous and bizarre remarks over the recent past which have embarrassed the grand old party every now and then. Now, Sam Pitroda has sparked another controversy for the Rahul Gandhi led party by making outrageous comments about the anti-Sikh riots that took place in 1984. On being asked about the 1984 riots, Pitroda replied, “This is also another lie, and what about 1984? 1984 hua toh hua. Aapne kya kiya paanch saal mein, uski baat kariye. ’84 mein hua to hua. (You speak about what you have done in five years. It happened in 1984, so what?)”
The Congress was already finding it hard to defend itself in the wake of extensive criticism that followed such insensitive remarks and now the Rahul Gandhi led party has been further embarrassed as the National Commission for Minorities has sent a notice to Pitroda asking him to tender an unconditional apology to the Sikh community over his insensitive comments.
The notice was sent based on a complaint made to the Commission by BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. Commission member, Atif Rasheed sent a notice to Pitroda asking him to explain his remarks. The letter sent to Pitroda by the National Commission of Minorities read that Pitroda’s statement has hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh community and could cause a further rift between two communities. The letter stated, “As NCM is constituted as a statutory body by an Act of Parliament and is empowered to look into specific complaints regarding deprivation of rights and safeguards of minorities, it has taken the complaint very seriously as Sikhs are one of the notified minority communities in India and the incident of 1984 massacre is a blot in the history of mankind.”
It is clear that Congress will have to face the heat for such insensitive and bizarre remarks by Sam Pitroda. In the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, it was Mani Shankar Aiyar who had proved to be the nemesis of the Congress, and this time around Pitroda’s absurd remarks could prove costly for the party. Pitroda’s remarks about the 1984 riots are not only disrespectful and bizarre but also shows that Congress does not even regret how an absolute carnage had been launched in a rather organised manner. This is a clear manifestation of the hateful ideology of the Congress.