Past will catch up with politicians even after decades: BJP

New Delhi, Dec 2 (UNI) BJP leader Ravi Shanker Prasad has observed that politicians should be aware that their past would catch up with them even after two decades.

It was an apparent reference to Congress leaders Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar whose names still figure in the CBI inquiries, courts and in various commissions and committees for their questionable role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The former Union Minister was addressing a debate on 'Delhi 1984 to Gujarat 2002: Political Mileage from Communal Violence' this weekend here.

Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid said the Congress had moved ahead since 1984 but when ''we look back at the events that happened in those days, our head sinks in shame. The Prime Minister has already tendered a sincere apology in Parliament on behalf of the government and the party.'' Mr Khurshid however, sought to dispel the general impression that the Sikh massacre was 'organised' saying that even those occupying top positions in the political party could be described as ultimate authority. ''Everything could not be in regimented control and some people always overact in the name of the party'', he said.

He said the 1947 communal carnage to Gujarat in 2002, should be analysed in a national and democratic perspective while addressing the issue- how to do away with such aberrations (political) which cause much bloodshed of the innocent and non-combatant people.

The violence in Gujarat and Nandigram are the latest examples in this context, he added.

The debate was organised in the backdrop of the release of the book 'When a Tree Shook Delhi'. The title of the book has been derived from former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's statement - ''when a mighty tree falls, earth around it does shake a little''- which was interpreted by the Sikh Community as 'justification of killings of the Sikhs' after the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards on October 31, 1984.

The book has been authored by eminent lawyer H S Phoolka and Times of India editor Manoj Mitta.

Also speaking on the occasion was Brinda Karat of the CPI(M) who was of the view that those guilty of communal riots had rarely been penalised by the Indian state which showed a lack of political will.

Eminent psyphologist Yogendra Yadav moderated the debate and concluded that the Indian political class should reassess and reevaluate its secular credentials to prevent the recurring misuse of communalism and caste for political ends.

UNI