"Is he willing to use the same phraseology for the Prime Minister as on 1st November, 1984 during whose tenure the worst ever genocide in the country took place against the Sikh community and for which nobody till date has been held responsible," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley told reporters.
The anti-sikh riots had taken place in the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi, when Rajiv Gandhi took over as Prime Minister.
Sharpening his attack on Modi during his press conference, Singh went on to say, "If by strong PM you mean that you preside over mass massacre of innocent citizens on the streets of Ahmedabad, if that is the measure of strength, I do not believe that kind of strength this country needs, least of all in its prime minister."
Replying to a question on the anti-sikh riots, the Prime Minister said he has publicly apologised to the Sikh community on behalf of the government and what happened in 1984 should have never happened.
"I think our government has done quite a lot (for Sikh victims). I used the opportunity of a decision in Parliament to publicly apologise to Sikh community on behalf of the government of our country for what had happened in 1984. It should never have happened.
"As far as compensation is concerned, I think one can never give adequate compensation to compensate for the loss of valuable life but wherever possible, we have provided succour to the suffering families of the Sikhs of 1984 riots," he said at his press conference.