Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Monday admitted some Congress members were probably involved in the 1984 riots, in which innocent people had died.
"Some Congressmen were probably involved...There is a legal process through which they have gone through... Some Congressmen have been punished for it," he said in an interview to Times Now news channel.
Referring to his grandmother and late prime minister Indira Gandhi's loss in 1977 Lok Sabha elections, he said: "The people who came with my grandmother, those people who stood by my grandmother, were Sikhs."
"Pretty much everyone had deserted my grandmother but the Sikhs were standing with my grandmother. I think the Sikhs are probably one of the industrious people in this country. I admire them; we have a PM who is a Sikh," Gandhi said, referring to Manmohan Singh.
Gandhi said he did not have the same world view as opposition parties.
"What those two people did to my grandmother, was two individuals, I don't turn around and take my anger which existed then, frankly, it doesn't exist now and brush it onto an entire community, that's just not me," he said.
"I do not take my anger which existed on two individuals who did something evil and wrong and overlay it on millions of people. I think that's criminal. Did the Sikh riots take place in Delhi? Absolutely. Were they completely wrong? Absolutely," Gandhi said.
Asked why does he not apologise for 1984 riots, Gandhi said: "Innocent people died in 1984 and innocent people dying is a horrible thing and should not happen."
