Rahul Gandhi should not be blamed for Sikh riots: P Chidambaram

A day after Congress President Rahul Gandhi referred to the 1984 riots in his address to a UK based audience, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday said that Gandhi should not be blamed for the riots that killed over 3000 people in Delhi.

He said Gandhi has not absolved anyone of the riots and should not be blamed for it.

He said, "Congress was in office in 1984. A very terrible thing happened in 1984 for which Dr Manmohan Singh aplogised in Parliament. You can't hold Rahul Gandhi responsible for that, he was 13 or 14. He hasn't absolved anyone".

He also attacked the BJP over the Rafale deal.

Chidambaram said, "We think that the matter is serious enough and there should be a public debate and a detailed inquiry. Which is why the Congress President and the party has raised it".

Gandhi while addressing UK based parliamentarians and local leaders on Friday said that the 1984 incident was a tragedy and had painful experiences. 

Disagreeing with the view that Congress was "involved" in the incident, he further said that he was 100 per cent for the punishment for those involved in any violence against anybody.

Nearly 3,000 Sikhs were killed in the riots in 1984 following the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards when the Congress government was in power at the Centre.

Some Congress leaders have been accused of leading the killer mobs during the riots. They have however denied the allegations.  

(With inputs from agencies)