On the arrival of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Ludhiana, members of the 1984 Sikh Massacre Riot Victims Society, raised slogans and burnt an effigy of Rahul Gandhi at the Ghantaghar Chowk.
The protesters alleged that the attack on Sri Darbar Sahib was on the orders of Rahul Gandhi’s grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. They also pointed out that Sikhs were massacred during the time of Rahul’s father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. They claimed that the Bharat Jodo Yatra has again cut open their wounds. The protesters demanded that Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi should apologize for the attack on Sri Darbar Sahib and the massacre of Sikhs.
The Bharat Jodo Yatra is just a drama, they claimed. However, in view of the apprehension of protests from the riot victims, adequate security arrangements had already been made by the police. The demonstration took place under police supervision. The yatra will cover several parts of Punjab over eight days before reaching Jammu and Kashmir, its final stop, on 19 January.
The yatra, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on 7 September, will end at Srinagar on 30 January, where Rahul plans to hoist the Tricolour.
The foot march has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and is presently in Punjab.
