India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 5—Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the massacre of 3,000 Sikhs in 1984 in Delhi could have been avoided had the Union Home Minister PV Narasimha Rao listened to the advice of former Prime Minister I K Gujral.
Singh made the comments at an event to mark the 100th birth anniversary of Gujral here in the national Capital on Wednesday. Gujaral was prime minister from April 1997 to April 1998.
“When the sad event of 1984 took place, Gujral ji on that very sad evening went to the then Home Minister PV Narasimha Rao and said to him that the situation is so grave that it is necessary for the government to call the army at the earliest. If that advice would have been heeded perhaps the massacre that took place in 1984 could have been avoided,” The Indian Express quoted Singh having spoken at the event.
The 1984 Sikh massacre, which followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her four Sikh security personnel, had left over 3,000 Sikhs dead across the nation. Several Congress leaders have been accused of leading mobs targeting Sikhs.
In 2005, Manmohan Singh, the then prime minister of India had apologised to members of Parliament and the nation for the riots. “I have no hesitation in apologising to not only the Sikh community but also to the nation. I bow my head in shame that such a thing happened,” he told in Rajya Sabha. In the past, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi also expressed regrets and Rahul Gandhi had said that he “shared the sentiments” of the two leaders.
During the event on Wednesday, Singh also shared how his relationship with Gujral grew after the Emergency of 1975-77. “He was the minister of Information and Broadcasting and he had problems with some aspects of the management of emergency and then he was removed to the planning commission as minister of state. I was then an economic advisor with the ministry of finance… Thereafter our relationship grew”, Dr Singh was quoted as saying by ANI.
Former President Pranab Mukherjee was also present at the event.
