Sam Pitroda apologises for remarks on Sikh riots, says his words twisted due to his 'bad Hindi'

The BJP has demanded an apology from UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi over Pitroda's remarks.
Congress leader Sam Pitroda (File Photo| PTI)
Congress leader Sam Pitroda (File Photo| PTI)

Indian Overseas Congress chief and aide of party chief Rahul Gandhi Sam Pitroda on Friday said that he was misrepresented over his “jo hua toh hua” remark over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and expressed regret over the controversial statement.

“What I meant was move on. We have other issues to discuss as to what BJP government did and what it delivered. I feel sorry that my remark was misrepresented, I apologise. This has been blown out of proportion. The statement I made was completely twisted, taken out of context because my Hindi isn’t good, what I meant was ‘jo hua vo bura hua,’ I couldn’t translate ‘bura’ in my mind, ” Pitroda clarified.

Earlier, the BJP demanded an apology from UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi over Pitroda's remarks.

"We demand that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi must apologise for the worst comments made by Sam Pitroda which has hurt the people of the country," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar told the media here at his residence in Delhi.

Pitroda had on Thursday brushed off the 1984 anti-Sikh riots saying, "It happened in 1984, so what?" On Friday, Pitroda accused the BJP of twisting and distorting facts from his comments to divide the people and hide its failures.

"I acknowledged the pain of my Sikh brothers and sisters during difficult times in 1984 and deeply feel for the atrocities that happened. But these are things from past that are not really relevant to this election which is all about what did Modi government do for the last five years. Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will never target a group of people based on creed," he said in a series of tweets.

Reacting to his clarification, Javadekar said that Pitroda's explanation was even more dangerous as he acknowledged the pain of the Sikh community while saying that it was not relevant today.

"When Sikhs have not got justice how it is not relevant today? It is relevant today because it is an unsolved saga of atrocities and if atrocities and genocide against Sikhs are not relevant than tomorrow Sam Pitroda will say partition is not relevant, ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits is not relevant.

"He will say communal politics in Shah Bano case is also not relevant today. It is relevant because these are issues faced by the nation and nation has to debate it during elections," Javadekar added.

Slamming Pitroda for his remarks that late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will never target a group of people based on creed, the Union Minister asked will he explain the justification of genocide by Rajiv Gandhi when he said when "big tree falls, earth trembles". "Is this not supporting genocide?" he asked.

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