New Delhi: On Friday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that the statement made by party’s Indian Overseas chief Sam Pirtoda on 1984 anti-Sikh riots was “out of line”, adding that he should apologize for it. The Congress chief took to his Facebook Official and said, “I think what Sam Pitroda Ji said is completely out of line and he should apologize for it. I think 1984 was a needless tragedy that caused tremendous pain.”

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Terming the 1984 riots a “terrible tragedy”, Gandhi called for action against those responsible for the riots. “I think justice has to be done. The people who were responsible for the 1984 tragedy have to be punished. The Former PM, Manmohan Singh Ji has apologized. My mother, Sonia Gandhi Ji has apologized. We all have made our position very clear - that 1984 was a terrible tragedy and should never have happened,” he said.

“What Mr. Sam Pitroda has said is absolutely and completely out of line and is not appreciated. I will be communicating this to him directly. He must apologize for his remarks,” Mr. Gandhi further added.

Earlier, Sam Pitroda triggered a political slugfest after he said, "Why are you talking about it (1984 anti-Sikh riots) right now. 84 mein hua toh hua.”

He later issued a clarification, saying his comment has been distorted and taken out of context as his Hindi is not good. "The statement I made was completely twisted, taken out of context because my Hindi isn't good, what I meant was 'jo hua vo bura hua,' I couldn't translate 'bura' in my mind," he said.

"What I meant was move on. We have other issues to discuss as to what BJP govt did and what it delivered. I feel sorry that my remark was misquoted, I apologize. This has been blown out of proportion," Mr. Pitroda added.

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