Ensure Kamal Nath, Tytler, Pitroda's expulsion: BJP on Rahul's remark on anti-Sikh riots

New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday demanded Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ensure the expulsion of Jagdish Tytler, Kamal Nath and Sam Pitroda from the party if he actually felt the 1984 anti-Sikh riots were wrong.

Asked about the riots and the Congress' relationship with the Sikh community during an interactive session in the US, Gandhi said the party committed a lot of "mistakes" when he was not there and asserted he was more than happy to take responsibility for everything it had done wrong.

The Congress leader pointed out that he had publicly acknowledged what happened in the 1980s was "wrong".

He made the remarks on April 21 at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.

Asked about Gandhi's remarks, BJP national spokesperson RP Singh said, "If he actually meant what he said and is willing to take responsibility for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, he should expel Jagdish Tytler, Kamal Nath from the Congress. He should also expel Sam Piroda who had said 'hua toh hua (whatever happened happened)' about the riots."

"If you want to repent, then repent completely. Such a half-hearted response will not be enough," he told PTI. "If you really feel that a mistake was committed, you correct it. You expel Jagdish Tytler, Kamal Nath and Sam Pitroda from the Congress."

During the session, a Sikh student had asked Gandhi what attempts he was making to reconcile with the Sikh community and referred to the 1984 riots.

The student had also referred to Gandhi's remark during an earlier US visit that the fight he was fighting was about whether Sikhs would be allowed to wear a turban in India or not.

Posting that segment of the interaction on X on Saturday, the BJP's IT department chief Amit Malviya said, "'You haven't reconciled with the Sikhs', a young man tells Rahul Gandhi to his face, reminding him of the unfounded fear-mongering he engaged in during his last visit to the US."

"It is quite unprecedented that Rahul Gandhi is now being ridiculed not just in India, but around the world," Malviya added.