New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government was responsible for "abetting and pushing" the 2002 Gujarat riots while the Congress government tried to stop the 1984 riots, Rahul Gandhi said today but offered no apology for the anti-Sikh violence of the past.
Pitted against Modi in a virtual Presidential-style contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi said he was not scared of him and claimed that Congress will defeat BJP.
Rahul Gandhi. AFP
Making a direct attack on Modi, he said, "the fact of the matter is that innocent people died in 1984 and innocent people dying is a horrible thing and should not happen. The difference between Gujarat and 1984 was that the government of Gujarat was involved in the riots."
Asked in an interview to Times Now as to how he could say that when Modi has been given a clean chit by the courts, Gandhi said, "... he was the Chief Minister when the Gujarat riots happened... The government in Gujarat was actually abetting and pushing the riots further."
Seeking to differentiate the role of governments during the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and 2002 in Gujarat, he said, "the simple difference is that in 1984, the government was not involved in the massacre of people. In Gujarat it was."
He insisted that the Congress government in 1984 "was not aiding and abetting the riots" but had tried to stop the violence.
When pressed further on how he could attack Modi on the Gujarat riots, Gandhi said, "it is not me. It is a large number of people who saw actively the government of Gujarat being involved in the riots.
"I mean, people saw it. I am not the person who saw it. Your colleagues saw it. Your colleagues told me. They saw the administration actively attacking the minorities," he said.
To questions whether he would apologise for the 1984 riots and whether he felt that there was no need for it, Gandhi said, "First of all, I wasn't involved in the riots at all. It wasn't that I was a part of it."
At the same time, he admitted that "some Congress men were probably involved in 1984 anti-Sikh riots and they have been punished for it".
When asked if he would apologise on behalf of Congress party Rahul Gandhi said, "I think that riots, as all riots, were a horrible event. Frankly, I was not in operation in Congress party then."
When asked if he agreed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's view that Modi presided over the "mass massacre" of innocents on the streets of Ahmedabad, Gandhi said, "what the Prime Minister is saying is the fact. Gujarat happened and people died."
Asked if he was avoiding a direct face-off with Modi by not becoming the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Congress, the Congress Vice President said, "to understand that question, you have to understand a little bit, who Rahul Gandhi is and you get an answer to the question to what Rahul Gandhi is scared of and not scared of."
To a question as to what was his view of BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate, he said, "I think, we will defeat the BJP in the next elections....I will win the election. I am reasonably confident."
He added that Congress was "battle ready" and "going to win".
Asked if he would take responsibility if Congress doesn't win the election, he said, "if we don't win, I am the Vice President of the party. I will take responsibility."
On naming Modi as PM candidate, he said, "BJP believes in concentration of power in one person. I fundamentally disagree with that. I believe in democracy. I believe in opening of the system... We have fundamentally different philosophies."
When told that Rahul Gandhi had avoided the whole question about whether he was open to PM's post and avoiding a difficult contest, Gandhi referred to his speech at the AICC meet and said announcing a PM candidate before an election is "announcing your PM without asking your MPs. It is not actually written in the Constitution."
When told that the Congress did announce a PM candidate in 2009, Gandhi denied this.
He avoided giving a direct reply to questions on whether political parties should be brought under the purview of RTI, saying the Parliament should decide on it if political parties are unanimous on this. "My position is that the more openness, the better."
Asked why Congress protected former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan despite a judicial commission's indictment, Gandhi said the party had taken action wherever corruption was involved.
He said he made his position clear on Chavan after the Maharashtra Cabinet had rejected the judicial commission's findings.
On corruption charges against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, he said, "there is a legal process. Follow it and conclude it."
With regard to performance of the Aam Aadmi Party, he said, "there are things how they have reached out to people. Don't take that away from them."
To questions about dynasty politics, Gandhi said " I did not choose to be born in this family. I am absolutely against the concept of dynasty. But it happens in BJP, SP, DMK and Congress everywhere."
He said he was being personally attacked because he is doing things that are dangerous to the system.
Rahul Gandhi was also asked about Subramanian Swamy's jibes at him, where Swamy had claimed that Gandhi's claim to an M Phil from Oxford University was a lie. "You want me to show you my degree, I can show you my degree. He has probably seen my degree, I have given a sworn affidavit saying that I have got these degrees, If I am lying on these affidavits let him take the legal process and solve it, what more do you want me to do."
When asked if he would like to challenge Swamy, Gandhi said, "Why should I challenge him? He's been attacking my family for 40 years. Why should I challenge him?"
Gandhi carefully avoided the question when he was asked if he would participate in a debate with the contenders for prime minister he said, "There is a national debate taking place right now. The national debate taking place right now is the following. There is the Congress Party that believes in openness, that believes in RTI, that believes in Panchayati Raj, that believes in giving people power. And there is our Opposition that believes in concentrated power. That's the debate that's taking place. That's what the election is all about."
Meanwhile to Modi's remark that he would do in 60 months what the Congress couldn't in 6o years, Gandhi said, "My response to that is that in the last 10 years, we gave the country the fastest economic growth it has ever had. My response is that, we did more for opening up the system than any government before us," he said.
"My response is that we have completely changed the paradigm with our rights based development model. We have given MGNREGA which has transformed the rural economy. We are talking about Aadhar which is going to give money directly to the people. To just brush aside the idea that Congress party has been in power for 60 years, we are growing at the rate at which we are growing because of the Congress party," Gandhi added.
Finally, when asked if he was battle ready, Gandhi confidently said that he was. "Battle ready, of course. We're going to win," Gandhi said.
With inputs from PTI
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