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Sonia holds out hand of friendship to Sikhs

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has affirmed that she wanted to re-establish her family's relationship with the "brave Sikh community".

Addressing the Guru Nanak birth anniversary week celebrations organised by the National Sikh Council at New Delhi on Wednesday, Gandhi said incidents like that of 1984 should never happen again.

She had a feeling that the Sikhs have overcome the emotions of hatred and bitterness as a result of these unsavoury incidents. They must have forgotten the past as they are a community which looks to the future, she added.

Commencing her speech with the Sikh cry 'Bole So Nihal', Gandhi said whatever she was saying came directly from the heart. She had conveyed the same anguish as she felt now at a meeting in Chandigarh on the eve of Republic Day this year.

Gandhi said right from the beginning of the establishment of the faith some 500 years ago, Sikhs have time and again faced difficult times, the recent instances being Partition and 1984 riots.

They have acquired the spirit of tolerance and co-existence from the teachings of their gurus. The Sikh culture is a manifestation of the common heritage and inseparable identity that is India. Their spirit of fighting against injustice, courage and tolerance was a precious and durable element of the country's legacy, she added.

Gandhi also referred to the community's contributions in the independence struggle, green revolution, defence and in overall development of the nation.

''Sikhs have also acquired great spiritual values from Guru Nanak, who founded a religious faith which is the synthesis of Islam and Vedanta'', she added.

Presented with a picture of the Golden Temple, Amritsar, she said the Sikh gurus taught respect for all religions besides promoting values of brotherhood, fellow feeling and compassion. The future of India as a strong and self-reliant nation cannot be imagined without the participation of the Sikhs, she said.

Senior Congress leaders Dr Manmohan Singh and Ahmed Patel also addressed the gathering. A Shabad Kirtan was held later.

In Amritsar, Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee president Gurcharan Singh Tohra meanwhile described Sonia Gandhi's remarks on the 1984-riots as ''politically motivated statement to woo the Sikh voters''.

Talking to newsmen, he said there was no sincerity in the ''so called regrets'' being offered by Gandhi for the riots. ''Why has she appointed those responsible for the riots in the campaign committee of her party?'' Tohra asked, reacting to her speech.

Seeking to equate the Gandhi family with the 18th century Afghan invader Ahmed Shah Abdali, who had attacked the Golden Temple and massacred hundreds of innocent Sikhs, the SGPC president alleged that the Gandhi family had never been sincere towards the Sikhs.

It was former prime minister Indira Gandhi who ordered the army to attack the Golden Temple in June 1984, and then her son Rajiv Gandhi was responsible for the massacre of hundreds of Sikhs in November 1984, he alleged.

He appealed to the Sikhs not to be misled by the remarks of Gandhi on the anti-Sikh riots as she had no sympathy for them. The SGPC chief said he would be undertaking a vigorous campaign in states where assembly polls were being held to mobilise the Sikh voters against the Congress.

UNI

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