The General Secretary of the Shiromani Akali Dal Dr Harcharan Singh Bains today asked the AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi to take Mr Jagdish Tytler and others of his ilk with him in his delegation to the president to complete the Congressmen speaking on SIkh affairs."You would actually do yourself, your party and the country a favour if you undertake an "introspection and penitence" on the role of your party towards the Sikhs instead of enacting this farce of shedding crocodile tears on the painful events of Punjab in recent weeks." Mr Bains was commenting on the decision of Rahul Gandhi to lead a delegation of Congressmen to the Rashtarpati Bhawan on incidents of Bargari and Behbal Kala. "More than 30 years after the 1984 carnage, you seem suddenly to be suffering from a bout of sympathy for our community. We would have adored you if you had opened your mouth once on the role of your party in the 1984 carnage, or if you do even today," said Mr Bains in a statement here.
In a statement issued here today, Mr Bains said that the Rahul and his party lacked moral credentials to speak on SIkh issues and particularly on issues concerning their pain over the sacrilege caused to our most sacred scripture Sri Guru Granth Sahib. "Does Mr Rahul Gandhi even understand what it meant to be a Sikh in 1984 when goons of his party acting under orders from the then High Command, with whom he unfortunately shares a lineage, massacred innocent SIkhs on the streets of the national capital. Bains also asked the Congress leaders like Partap SIngh Bajwa to tell the people of Punjab when was it last they spoke on the anguish of the Sikhs on various issues including the tragic happenings 1984. He said that though the official figures deliberately down-played number of victims, but in fact more than 10,000 innocent and unarmed Sikh elderly men, women and children were killed in the conspiracy hatched by the Congress leaders.