Terming the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as "wrong", Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said the perpetrators of the mindless violence should be brought to justice. Though Rahul admitted that "there was a tragedy in Punjab" - after the assassination of his grandmother and former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, who ordered Operation Bluestar - he rubbished all talk of Sikh aversion towards the Congress.

In Amritsar to oversee youth body elections, accompanied by former chief election commissioner J M Lyngdoh, Rahul said at a press conference: "I have travelled a lot in Punjab and never had this kind of feeling. My mother, father and grandfather always claimed that if there was any community in India to be proud of, it was the Sikhs... I am proud of the Sikhs."

The Congress leader said that the government was doing a good job in containing terrorism, and offered no other response to a question on BJP leader L. K. Advani's allegation that the Congress was "politicizing" terror.

However, Rahul took a swipe at BJP, saying that it was about time it did some introspection. He added that BJP should have a look into the links which the Malegaon accused have with the party, more so as the Mumbai ATS arrested of two Hindu leaders and an Army officer for suspected involvement in the September 29 blast.

Hitting back at BJP president Rajnath Singh, who called him a 'bachcha' (child) in politics, the 38-year-old MP from Amethi further said 'bachcha' could be defined by the way one looked at things. "I think in a completely different way. They think in a sort of political way." On the BJP leader "raising the bogey of experience," Rahul said that Rajnath Singh "should perhaps look at the 70 per cent 'bachcha' part of India."