Yudhvir Rana/TNN

Amritsar, Nov 19: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday termed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots after the assassination of his grandmother Indira Gandhi, who ordered Operation Bluestar, "wrong". ( Watch )

Admitting that "there was a tragedy in Punjab", Rahul, who was accompanied by former chief election commissioner J M Lyngdoh, said the perpetrators of the mindless violence should be brought to justice.

Rubbishing all talk of Sikh aversion towards the Congress, Rahul, who was here to oversee youth body elections, said, ‘‘I have travelled a lot in Punjab and never had this kind of feeling.’’ The Congress MP went on to add: ‘‘My mother, father and grandfather always claimed that if there was any community in India to be proud of, it was the Sikhs... I am proud of the Sikhs.’’

Taking a swipe at the BJP, the Congress leader said it was about time it did some introspection on patronizing and promoting people accused of masterminding terror attacks. ‘‘It is very sad that these things are happening. But the people involved in all this (Malegaon bomb blast) are linked to the VHP.’’

The BJP and Hindu right wing organizations have been on the backfoot ever since the Mumbai ATS arrested two Hindu leaders and an Army officer for suspected involvement in the September 29 Malegaon blast that left six people dead.
Expressing concern over the low number of women enrolling themselves in Youth Congress, Rahul said there was only 6.5% enrolment and ‘‘more women need to be brought into the party fold’’.

On the announcement of party candidates for parliamentary elections, Rahul said it was entirely the domain of Congress. ‘‘We will give them a set of elected leaders and the rest would be for it (Congress) to decide." Meanwhile, in a polite riposte to BJP chief Rajnath Singh who called him a ‘bacha’ (child), Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said he should keep in mind that 70% of people in the country were young like him.

“I may be a bachcha, so are most Indians,” he said. ‘‘I am still a ‘bachcha’ for a senior leader like Rajnath Singh. I really respect him and agree with whatever he says as I do not have even half the experience he has... I am a much younger person and think in a completely different way than how they think. They (Rajnath and other leaders like him) think politically.’’