New Delhi: As his "so what " remark on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots stirs up a storm, Indian Overseas Congress Chairman Sam Pitroda on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) of "distorting the truth" and said that he acknowledged the pain of the Sikh community.
In a series of tweets, the senior Congress leader launched a scathing attack against the saffron party by saying that the BJP is distorting his quotes, to hide their own failures.
"I acknowledged the pain of my Sikh brothers and sisters during difficult times in 1984 and deeply feel for the atrocities that were meted out, " tweeted Pitroda.
"But these are things from the past that are not really relevant to this election which is all about what did Modi government do for the last five years. Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will never target a group of people based on creed," he said.
He said the BJP is talking about these issues and attacking Congress leaders with "lies" because they cannot talk about their performance and have no vision to take India forward to inclusive growth and prosperity for all with focus on jobs, kids and more jobs.
"Truth is being distorted, lies are being amplified through social media. People are systematically being intimidated. However, the truth will always prevail and lies will be exposed. It is just a matter of time. Have patience," he said.
"For all those who would be voting on May 12th and 19th, I want to remind that the phones and computers you use are because PM Rajiv Gandhi in mid-1980s provided the political will, policies, leadership, wisdom, and funds to build a platform to connect India," added Pitroda.
"Rajiv Gandhi took many bold initiatives to plant seeds for technology missions on water, literacy, immunization, cooking oil, milk production, and telecom. Today we have eradicated polio and we are the largest producer of milk. He introduced Panchayati Raj and many novel schemes," he said.
In response to Pitroda's comment on the BJP unnecessarily dragging Rajiv Gandhi in Lok Sabha polls 2019, BJP MP and multimillionaire entrepreneur Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in a tweet, accused Rajiv Gandhi of dynastic politics and said that the leader holds relevance in this election because Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Sam Pitroda were able to enter politics by virtue of being close to Rajiv Gandhi.
Pitroda tweeted in response to Chandrasekhar's accusation, saying that the BJP has already dragged Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi in its campaigns, but, after failing to form a public opinion against the two stalwarts, the saffron party is trying to malign Rajiv Gandhi's image.
A video clip of an interview tweeted by BJP leaders showed Pitroda responding to a question about the violence with the sentence, “Hua to hua [it happened, so what?].”
The video clip was of an exchange between an agency reporter and Pitroda on Thursday.
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