Sonia Gandhi’s book tries to give her family a clean chit on 1984 anti-Sikh massacre: BJP

BJP leader Harvinder Singh Phoolka said the book’s account, which was “completely inconsistent with the official record”, wrongly attributed the delay in army deployment to General AS Vaidya. | Photo credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday (Nov 10, 2026) alleged that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi tried to shield former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress leadership from responsibility for the 1984 anti-Sikh massacre through her book.

In a press conference, senior BJP leader Harvinder Singh Phoolka said, “In a book published by Sonia Gandhi, she tried to explain the Sikh massacre to her family. He claimed that the book’s account, which was “completely inconsistent with the official record”, wrongly attributed the delay in army deployment to General AS Vaidya.”

“First, according to the Misra Commission report, 6,100 troops were available in Delhi on the night of October 31 and the morning of November 1, but they were not deployed in time. The Commission also wrote that if 5,000 of these troops had been forced to march through the streets of Delhi on the morning of November 1, at least 2,000 of the Commission could have been rescued from the Misnavatikhs, and both were rescued. the same point in their news,” he said.

“The Misra Commission says that even if Rajiv Gandhi had warned General Vaidya, the army chief’s job is only to keep the army ready, while the administrative officers are responsible for calling up the army and deploying it in the field. The administrative machinery did not call up the army on time or deploy it,” Mr. Phoolka said.

“Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister of the country at the time. If he was not directly responsible himself, what action did he take against those who failed to mobilize the army present in Delhi on the morning of November 1? Instead, in his first public meeting, Rajiv Gandhi said, ‘When a big tree falls, the earth trembles a little.’ In this way he tried to justify the whole carnage,” he said.

Union Minister Giriraj Singh accused Mrs Gandhi of being selective in expressing grief over incidents like Babri and Batla House but not over the Godhra and Pahalgam incidents. He said her book was meant to deal with what he described as former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s mistakes, including Tibet and Articles 370 and 35A.

BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari claimed that the book reflected “vote bank politics” that would lead to another electoral defeat for the main opposition party in 2029.

Published – 10 Nov 2026 21:06 IST