Indian Overseas Congress chief Sam Pitroda on Thursday brushed off 1984 anti-Sikh riots saying "happened in 1984, so what".
On being asked to respond on the BJP's claim citing the Nanavati commission report that the instructions for the violence had come from late Rajiv Gandhi who had taken up the post of Prime Minister after his mother Indira Gandhi was assassinated, Pitroda furiously told ANI, "I don't think so, this is also another lie, and what about 1984? You speak about what you have done in five years. It happened in 1984, so what? (1984 hua toh hua). What have you done? (Ab kya hai '84 ka? Aapne kya kiya 5 saal mein, uski baat kariye. '84 mein hua to hua. Aapne kya kiya?)"
"You were voted to create jobs. You were voted to create 200 smart cities. You have not even done that. You have not done anything that is why you keep talking here and there," he added.
Earlier in the day, senior Congress leader Sheila Dikshit expressed disappointment over BJP's allegation of Rajiv Gandhi's 'involvement' in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Asked about BJP's claim, Dikshit told ANI, "Why would Rajiv Gandhi do that? His mother had been killed, why would he instruct? He was deeply hurt. Does the BJP act like this? I am really disappointed."
"It's on record of Nanavati Commission that probed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, the biggest genocide of India in which the government killed its own citizens, that instructions to kill came directly from the then PM Rajiv Gandhi's office," the BJP's had tweeted earlier today.
The anti-Sikh riots took place after the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
According to official records, about 2,800 Sikhs were killed across India, including 2,100 in Delhi, during the pogrom that broke out after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.