Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Monday party leader Sam Pitroda should be ashamed of his “hua to hua” remark on the 1984 riots and should publicly apologise for it.

Addressing Congress rallies in support of party candidates Amar Singh from Fatehgarh Sahib, Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal from Hoshiarpur and Ch Santokh Singh Chaudhary from Jalandhar, Rahul said he had personally called up Pitroda to demand an unequivocal apology, which the people of India wanted and deserved for his controversial remarks. Calling the riots totally wrong and tragic, the Congress president said those responsible for the riots should and would be punished.

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“What Sam Pitroda said about 1984 is absolutely wrong and he should apologise to the nation for it. I told him this over the phone, I told him what he said was wrong, he should be ashamed and apologise publicly,” he said.

Gandhi was accompanied by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh as he addressed the rallies.

Pitroda, in-charge of Congress’s overseas units, had on Thursday while rubbishing BJP’s allegation that the 1984 anti-Sikh riots took place on the orders of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, had said, “Ab kya hai ’84 ka? Aapne kya kiya 5 saal mein, uski baat kariye. ’84 mein hua to hua. Aapne kya kiya? (What about 1984 now? What have you done in the last five years, talk about that? What happened in 1984, happened. What have you done?).”

Following this, the BJP had heavily criticised Congress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing an election rally in Haryana’s Rohtak had on Friday said the three words – “hua to hua” – sum up the arrogance of Congress and prove that they had no regard for life.

“These three words are proof that the party which ruled the country for most of the time is insensitive. The words reflect the character, mentality and intention of the Congress party,” the PM had said.

Taking to Facebook, Rahul Gandhi too had criticised Pitroda for his comment and said it was completely out of line, asking him to apologise.

“I think 1984 was a needless tragedy that caused tremendous pain,” Gandhi had said in the Facebook post, stressing that people responsible for the riots should 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,” he said.

Pitroda tendered an apology on May 10, saying what he said was “completely twisted”. He said his comment was taken out of context “because my Hindi isn’t good”.

Meanwhile, terming the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, polling for which is due in Punjab on 19 May, an ideological fight between false promises and realistic commitments, Rahul said on Monday Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party had cheated the people of India with their lies and false propaganda while Congress has always remained true to its promises.

“This chowkidar (Modi) has been exposed, the people know the truth about him and he can no longer escape for perpetrating theft of their hard-earned money with demonetisation and GST, and for diverting Rs 30,000 crore to Anil Ambani with the Rafale defence deal,” said the Congress president.

Rahul said Modi had already lost the fight and people will not forgive him for standing a mute spectator when Dalits and minorities were being attacked, youth were being deprived of jobs and scholarships, farmers were committing suicide or were being thrown behind bars and the money of the people was being stolen from them.

The PM had looted the common people, through his ill-conceived demonetisation and GST (Gabbar Singh Tax) and given their hard-earned money to Ambani, Mallya, Chowksi and Nirav Modi, said Rahul, adding that Modi was now running scared of even debating with him on issues of corruption and Rafale as he had no answers to his questions.

Lashing out at Modi for destroying the nation and its economy, the Congress president listed the PM’s long list of unfulfilled promises, including 2 crore jobs for youth every year and Rs 15 lakh in every poor person’s bank account, to warn the people against giving him another chance to ruin their lives.

While ordinary people were standing in queues during demonetisation, and youth were losing jobs, with small traders and shopkeepers forced to shut down business as a result of GST, 15 rich industrialists pocketed crores of rupees from the Modi government in these five years, said Rahul.

Pointing to the shocking figures of unemployment, which stood at its worst in 45 years, Rahul said the Congress party’s NYAY scheme will not only ensure Rs 72,000 for 5 crore families a year, for the next five years, but will also ensure employment to youth and improved business for shopkeepers as well as small and medium sized traders by increasing the purchasing power of the people.