Sonia Gandhi’s memoir burned at Rakab Ganj Gurdwara

Families of victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, along with members of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), on Thursday burned a copy of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s memoir at Rakab Ganj Gurdwara in protest against her remarks on the riots.

The protesters expressed their resentment over Gandhi’s account of the 1984 violence in which thousands of Sikhs were killed.

In ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’, released on Tuesday, Gandhi describes the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as a “tragic and shameful” chapter in the country’s history.

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She also writes that while her husband and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s “heart held no bigotry or rancour”, he was thrust into a moment in history when governance had failed, making way for barbarism.

Sonia Gandhi writes that news of the killing of Indira Gandhi spread rapidly. She said that while many had earlier welcomed the end of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the mood changed following the assassination.

“By the afternoon, rioting had broken out in different parts of the city and beyond. Brutal acts of violence were committed against innocent Sikhs. More than 2,000 lost their lives in the capital alone, in the most cruel and cold-blooded manner,” she says in the memoir.