WB Cong ‘Remembers’ Rajiv Gandhi With His Most Controversial Quote
Rajiv Gandhi’s statement back in 1984 tried to justify the anti-Sikh riots that killed more than 3,000 people.
advertisement
More than three decades later, there seems to be no repentance whatsoever for the thousands of innocent lives lost in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
On Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary, the West Bengal Congress party decided to ‘remember’ the former Indian Prime Minister by tweeting one of his most controversial statements.
In 1984, following his mother Indira Gandhi’s death, Rajiv had said, “When a big tree falls, the ground shakes” in order to justify the anti-Sikh riots that broke out across the country after the news of her demise spread.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards on 31 October, 1984. That led to widespread killing of Sikhs across the country. More than 3,000 people were murdered in riots that has been time and again interpreted as a state-sponsored genocide.
The West Bengal Congress party later deleted the tweet, but not before it faced some solid Twitter backlash.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)