WB: Congress commits blunder, tweets Rajiv Gandhi’s 1984 controversial quote on his birth anniversary
NEW DELHI: Days after Congress veteran leader Digvijay Singh was trolled on Twitter after he referred Kashmir as ‘Pakistan Occupied Kashmir’, the party was on Saturday left embarrassed again by its members. In an embarrassing blunder, the Congress West Bengal Unit posted on Twitter one of the most controversial statements by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi while remembering him on his 72 birth anniversary.
The quote came days after India’s then Prime Minister was assasinated by her Sikh bodyguards on October 1984. “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes,” Rajiv said, rather unfortunately, back then.The comment, undoubtedly was unfortunate, as soon after Indira Gandhi’s death, riots took place against the Sikh community in various parts of north India, allegedly incited by several Congress leaders.
As per a government record, more than 2,000 Sikhs are reported to have been massacred in the ’84 riots.Rajiv Gandhi was soon elevated to be sworn in as the next Prime minister after Indira Gandhi’s death. When he was questioned about the Sikh riots, the Gandhi scion had said, “When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.”Gandhi’s comments were apparently portrayed as his approval to anti-Sikh events that transpired after Indira’a death.
His comment was seen not just as insensitive, but also as unpardonable, at a time when innocent Sikhs were being killed in the violence clashes. It is to be noted that many of the Congress leaders implicated in fomenting the riots are still under judicial scrutiny.This was for the second time in three days that the party was left red-faced by its members.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal Congress unit deleted the ‘controversial’ tweet of the former Prime Minister within ten minutes of it being published. However, the damage had been done by then. Screenshots of the tweet were plastered across the micro-blogging platform and caught the attention of many.
