NEW DELHI: A copy of veteran Congress leader Sonia Gandhi‘s recently released memoir was burnt by families of the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and members of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee at Rakab Ganj Gurdwara on Thursday in protest against her account of the violence in which thousands of Sikhs were killed.In her memoir, Sonia 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, paving the way for barbarism.Recounting the events following the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, Sonia writes that news of her killing spread rapidly. While many had initially welcomed the end of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the mood changed after 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.
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Soon after the book’s launch, BJP leaders alleged that some of the details in it contradicted official records and historical documents.Punjab BJP president Kewal Singh Dhillon and senior advocate H S Phoolka accused Sonia of attempting to shield the Gandhi family from responsibility for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and Operation Blue Star.Dhillon alleged that the memoir was an attempt to whitewash the role of Congress and the Gandhi family.He also questioned Sonia’s account that former PM Indira Gandhi had tears of pain and regret after watching footage of the aftermath of Operation Blue Star in June 1984.“If there was genuine remorse, why was the truth suppressed for decades?” Dhillon asked in a written statement.He said the military operation at the Golden Temple complex and the violence against Sikhs in November 1984 could not be described merely as a regrettable chapter to evade accountability.