Elections 2019: '1984 a terrible tragedy, Sam Pitroda must apologise,' says Congress chief Rahul Gandhi

Elections 2019: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday asked senior party leader Sam Pitroda to apologize for his "hua to hua" comment about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and said his remark was completely "out of the line". Gandhi said the 1984 riots was a "terrible tragedy" that caused "tremendous pain" and those responsible for it have to be punished.

Elections 2019: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said senior party leader Sam Pitroda must apologize for his "hua to hua" comment about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and said his remark was completely "out of the line". (PTI)

Elections 2019: Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said senior party leader Sam Pitroda must apologize for his "hua to hua" comment about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and said his remark was completely "out of the line". Gandhi said the 1984 riots was a "terrible tragedy" that caused "tremendous pain" and those responsible for it have to be punished. "I think what Sam Pitroda Ji said is completely out of line and he should apologise for it. I think 1984 was a needless tragedy that caused tremendous pain," Gandhi said in a Facebook post after Pitroda's remarks kicked up a political storm. "I think justice has to be done. The people who were responsible for the 1984 tragedy have to be punished. The Former PM, Manmohan Singh Ji has apologised. My mother, Sonia Gandhi Ji has apologised. "We all have made our position very clear - that 1984 was a terrible tragedy and should never have happened," Gandhi said. On Thursday, Indian Overseas Congress chief Pitroda had brushed off the 1984 anti-Sikh riots by saying, "hua toh hua" (so what, it happened). Gandi said what Pitroda said was "absolutely and completely out of line and is not appreciated" and he will be communicating this to Pitroda directly. "He must apologise for his comment," he said. Earlier in the day, Pitroda apologised for his comment, saying his statement was taken out of context as his Hindi was not good. "The statement I made was completely twisted and taken out of context because my Hindi isn't good. What I meant was 'jo hua woh bura hua' (what happened was bad), but I could not translate 'bura' (bad) in my mind," Pitroda told reporters here on Friday. Pitroda's apology came after BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Sikh organisations flayed his for his comment. "Yesterday, one of the top Congress leaders said the 1984 riots 'hua toh hua'. These three words sum up the arrogance of the Congress," Modi said at election rallies in Rohtak in Haryana and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh.