Close X
Saturday, January 11, 2025
ADVT 
International

Rahul Gandhi In UK: Sikh Separatists Raise Khalistan Slogans At Rahul Gandhi's Event In London

Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 Aug, 2018 04:06 PM

    A day after Congress chief Rahul Gandhi denied his party’s role in the 1984 Sikh riots, three pro-Khalistan supporters tried to distrupt his public event in London on Saturday. The trio also chanted pro-Khalistan slogans and had to be escorted out by the police before Gandhi arrived.

     

    The activists managed to enter the event where Gandhi was to deliver the inaugural address at the Indian Overseas Congress UK Mega Conference and started shouting “Khalistan Zindabad”. The audience then began to counter-chant “Congress party Zindabad” in reaction to the attempted disruption. The Khalistan supports were later ushered outside by Scotland Yard officers following a minor scuffle.

     

    Gandhi, in his interaction with the UK-based Parliamentarians and local leaders in London on Friday, said that the Congress had no role in the 1984 riots that followed after Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

     

    “I have no confusion in my mind about that. It was a tragedy, it was a painful experience. You say that the Congress party was involved in that, I don’t agree with that. Certainly there was violence, certainly there was tragedy,” he said.

     
     
     
     
     
     

    In 2005, Congress leader and the former prime minister Manmohan Singh had apologised in Parliament to “the Sikh community” and the “whole nation” on behalf of “the government, on behalf of the entire people of this country” for the 1984 riots, saying, “I bow my head in shame that such a thing took place.”

     

    Incidentally, during an interaction at the London School of Economics (LSE) later Friday, when again questioned about the anti-Sikh riots, Rahul too referred to Singh’s apology, saying the former PM had spoken for “all of us”

     

    While Congress leader P Chidambaram came to Gandhi’s rescue saying “we are not absolving the Congress,” Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal accused him of trying to protect the Congress leaders involved in the “genocide”. “Rahul Gandhi has rubbed salt into the wounds of Sikh kaum (community). It shows the thinking of Gandhi towards the Sikh community,” he said. The Congress’ Punjab unit defended Gandhi’s comments and lambasted the Akalis, alleging they were “deliberately distorting” his remarks.

     

    Over 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the riots in 1984. So far, 11 committees, commissions or teams have investigated the clashes. In January this year, the Supreme Court constituted another three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to re-investigate 186 of the cases.

     
     
     
     

    In his opening address, chairman of the Overseas Congress Department of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), Sam Pitroda said: "Our message is all about democracy, freedom, inclusion, diversity, jobs, growth, prosperity, bottom-up development. We want you (diaspora) to spread that message. The results of 2019 (elections) will define India of the future".

     

    Calling on the Indian diaspora to take Mahatma Gandhi's message of non-violence global, he said: "We all know that lies spread like wildfire on social media. Large number of media we believe does not do justice to us. We need your (diaspora) help in taking the right message to the media as well because one little mistake gets blown out of proportion".

     

    Gandhi, in his address in Hindi, reiterated many of the messages from his previous interactions in London, describing the Congress party as a force to fight against hatred and divisions and called on the diaspora to get behind it in the run up to the 2019 general election as "foot soldiers" of the party.

     

    "Our party was set up by NRIs. Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel were all NRIs. They all went out into the world and brought their new way of thinking to help their country. You are following those footsteps, he said.

     

    Taking aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress president attacked his "arrogance" for claiming that no development took place in India before he assumed power.

     

    "When he says that, he is not insulting the Congress party but the citizens of India. But the media is with him," he said.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Indian-Americans Hold Rally To Support Merit-Based Immigration

    Indian-Americans Hold Rally To Support Merit-Based Immigration
    Several hundred highly-skilled Indians workers, in long agonising Green Card wait, along with their children and spouses held a rally in front of the White House here in support of President Donald Trump’s plan for a merit-based immigration 

    Indian-Americans Hold Rally To Support Merit-Based Immigration

    Former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama To Deliver Speech In Montreal

     Months after her husband delivered a speech to a sold-out crowd, it's former U.S. first lady Michelle Obama's turn to visit Montreal. 

    Former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama To Deliver Speech In Montreal

    Police Seize Lamborghini From Suspected Impaired Driver In Victoria

    Police Seize Lamborghini From Suspected Impaired Driver In Victoria
      Police say a 31-year-old man was at the wheel of his black Lamborghini Gellardo near the downtown core late Saturday when he was pulled over when a patrol officer noticed flames shooting from the exhaust.

    Police Seize Lamborghini From Suspected Impaired Driver In Victoria

    Video: Women Thrash Drunk Haryana Cop With Sandals For 'Eve-Teasing'

    Video: Women Thrash Drunk Haryana Cop With Sandals For 'Eve-Teasing'
    According to the Haryana Police, the incident happened on Friday, February 2, near Sector 4 in Hisar district and was captured on camera by a local. 

    Video: Women Thrash Drunk Haryana Cop With Sandals For 'Eve-Teasing'

    Indian-Origin Man Ashwin Daudia, 51, Jailed For Life For Murdering Ex-Wife Kiran Daudia In UK

    Indian-Origin Man Ashwin Daudia, 51, Jailed For Life For Murdering Ex-Wife Kiran Daudia In UK
    An Indian-origin man on trial in the UK for strangling his ex-wife to death and then disposing off her body in a suitcase has been given a life sentence with a minimum of 18 years behind bars.

    Indian-Origin Man Ashwin Daudia, 51, Jailed For Life For Murdering Ex-Wife Kiran Daudia In UK

    Indian-American Woman, Son Found Dead At Virginia Home, Both Were Shot

    Indian-American Woman, Son Found Dead At Virginia Home, Both Were Shot
    The police were notified by a caller on Wednesday that a co-worker who lives in the 25000 block of Tomey Court had not come to work this week.

    Indian-American Woman, Son Found Dead At Virginia Home, Both Were Shot