Former Prime Minister and Gandhi-family loyalist Manmohan Singh has again come out to display his servitude to the Gandhi family. This time, the former PM has called the 1984 Sikh massacre that saw thousands of Sikhs killed, as a mere ‘sad event’.
Not just that, Manmhan Singh has taken some extra effort to shield former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and has blamed the then home minister PV Narasimha Rao squarely for the genocide of Sikhs under the then Congress government’s watch.
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Manmohan Singh has stated that that in the aftermath of assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh guards which led to anti-Sikh riots, where many Congress leaders led the mobs, could have been avoided had the then Home Minister acted on time and called in the army. Dr Singh absolves Rajiv Gandhi’s alleged justification of riots during his infamous rally by saying ‘big tree falls, the earth shakes’.
Not just that, Dr Singh also skips the part that it was Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s office which had given clear instructions not to call the army.
According to a report by The Times of India, in May 2019, I K Gujral’s son Naresh Gujarat had said that his late father, General Jagjit Singh Arora and Air Marshal Arjan Singh repeatedly went to the then President Giani Zail Singh and HM P V Narasimha Rao pleading them to call in the army to stop the Sikh massacre. However, Naresh Gujral told TOI that the two leaders expressed helplessness as “there were clear orders from Prime Minister’s house to not call in the army”.
Just a day prior, President Giani Zail Singh had administered oath to then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who swore in after his mother’s assassination.
Reacting to Dr Singh’s statement, NV Subhash, PV Narasimha Rao’s grandson said as his family member, he felt saddened by Singh’s statement. Speaking to news agency ANI, he said, “Can any Home Minister take independent decision without Cabinet’s approval? If Army had been called, it would’ve been a disaster.”