New Delhi, Aug 4 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Monday hit out at the Congress for the 1984 riots during a discussion in the Assembly even as workers of the grand old party protested outside the premises over demolition of slums in the city.

Even though the Congress has no representation in the Delhi Assembly, the CM lashed out at it during a discussion for being anti-Sikh.

While taking part in a discussion on the motion to thank the Prime Minister, Home Minister and the armed forces for Operation Sindoor and Operation Mahadev, the Chief Minister said: “I also want to talk about 1984. After Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated, her successor Rajiv Gandhi stood up and said, ‘When a big tree falls, the earth shakes.’ Didn’t he realise the weight of that sentence? His one remark led to the massacre of thousands of Sikhs across India and the destruction of countless homes. Where was the sense of responsibility then?”

She also hit out at the Congress for partition and occupation of Kashmir by Pakistan.

“You (Congress) took all the credit for winning India’s freedom, for liberating the country. Then why didn’t you take responsibility when Kashmir, which was a part of India, was attacked and occupied by Pakistan? It was your party, Congress, that was in power when Pakistan captured parts of Kashmir,” she said.

Earlier, Congress workers led by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Devender Yadav, protested outside the Assembly on the first day of the monsoon session to protest against the illegal demolition of over 3,000 dwellings by the BJP government to render nearly 15,000 families homeless.

Yadav was later detained by the police and taken to the Subzi Mandi Police Station.

He said that Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi visited the displaced slum dwellers and assured them of all help and support to ensure that they were resettled following which the Rekha Gupta government took the decision not to demolish slum clusters without giving them alternative accommodation.

Yadav said that in the coming days, Congress workers will go to every JJ cluster to express the party’s support and solidarity to them as Congress will not allow the Rekha Gupta government to displace the poor without resettling them.

–IANS

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