In an emotive speech, while addressing a rally in Churu, Rajasthan, he invoked memories of the killing of his grandmother, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, and father Rajiv Gandhi.
‘Hatred killed my grandmother, my father, maybe it’ll kill me. I don’t care. They go to Muzaffarnagar, Gujarat or Kashmir and spread hatred. We have to go in and battle the fire,’ said Rahul while condemning the BJP for spreading communal violence in the country.
Recounting Indira’s assassination in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards, Rahul said, ‘My security officer told me my grandmother had been shot. My legs were trembling. Priyanka and I were taken home and on the road there was grandmother’s blood and in a room there was the blood on my friends.’
The Congress leader, who was 14 then, said he was sent home from school when the news came.
‘I had two friends Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, they taught me how to play badminton. They were my friends. In 1984, I was in the garden and I met Beant Singh and he asked me where does your grandmother sleep, is her security adequate? If somebody throws a grenade at you, he told me how to lie down. At that time I did not understand what he meant. Years later I understood that Satwant Singh and Beant Singh were going to throw a grenade at her during Diwali.’
He said it took him 10 to15 years to put anger against them aside. Pointing towards Sikhs sitting in the gathering, Rahul said that people in Punjab were angry then but now that anger has subsided. ‘Some months back, an MLA from Punjab had come to me. Talks were going on. Before leaving he told me that had he met me 20 years back, he would have killed me. He said that he was full of anger then but now he can even embrace me. It takes years for that anger to subside but a minute to provoke it. It takes so much time to remove that anger and create brotherhood,’ he said.
‘Hatred killed my grandmother, my father, maybe it’ll kill me. I don’t care. They go to Muzaffarnagar, Gujarat or Kashmir and spread hatred. We have to go in and battle the fire,’ said Rahul while condemning the BJP for spreading communal violence in the country.
Recounting Indira’s assassination in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards, Rahul said, ‘My security officer told me my grandmother had been shot. My legs were trembling. Priyanka and I were taken home and on the road there was grandmother’s blood and in a room there was the blood on my friends.’
The Congress leader, who was 14 then, said he was sent home from school when the news came.
‘I had two friends Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, they taught me how to play badminton. They were my friends. In 1984, I was in the garden and I met Beant Singh and he asked me where does your grandmother sleep, is her security adequate? If somebody throws a grenade at you, he told me how to lie down. At that time I did not understand what he meant. Years later I understood that Satwant Singh and Beant Singh were going to throw a grenade at her during Diwali.’
He said it took him 10 to15 years to put anger against them aside. Pointing towards Sikhs sitting in the gathering, Rahul said that people in Punjab were angry then but now that anger has subsided. ‘Some months back, an MLA from Punjab had come to me. Talks were going on. Before leaving he told me that had he met me 20 years back, he would have killed me. He said that he was full of anger then but now he can even embrace me. It takes years for that anger to subside but a minute to provoke it. It takes so much time to remove that anger and create brotherhood,’ he said.