Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday criticised the Congress for its leader Sam Pitroda’s remarks on the 1984 anti-Sikh violence, PTI reported.

BJP leaders on Friday tweeted a video clip of an interview in which Pitroda responded to an ANi reporter’s question about the violence with: “Hua to hua [it happened, so what?]”. The exchange took place on Thursday. The reporter had asked Pitroda about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had ordered the violence in 1984 after two Sikh bodyguards assassinated his mother Indira Gandhi.

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Modi said Pitroda’s comment reflected the Congress party’s arrogance. “Congress, which ruled for a maximum period, has been insensitive and that is reflected by the three words spoken yesterday...these words have not been spoken just like that, these words [reflect the] character and mentality and intentions of the Congress,” the prime minister said at an election rally in Haryana’s Rohtak city.

Modi said his government provided justice “for the sin that was committed in 1984 due to the Congress namdaar”. “For the first time, justice has been done to the victims of the Sikh riots,” he added. “The guilty are being sentenced to life imprisonment or death.”

The prime minister said the Congress had made its views on the 1984 violence public through Pitroda’s comment. “Congress said ‘whatever happened, happened’,” he said, repeating Pitroda’s remark. “So much arrogance, so much lack of compassion.”

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Modi told ANI that the remarks reflect Congress’s mentality. He quoted former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s remark following the violence that “when a big tree falls, the earth shakes”. “They [Congress] even made Kamal Nath in charge of Punjab, now made him Madhya Pradesh chief minister,” he added. “So do not take this as an individual’s statement, this is the entire party’s thought.”

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1984 anti-Sikh violence: BJP demands Rahul Gandhi’s apology for Sam Pitroda’s ‘so what?’ remark