BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday called the 1984 massacre of Sikhs a black stain on the soul of India.At the party’s “Zakhm 84” conclave, he put direct questions to Rahul Gandhi on his father Rajiv Gandhi’s “when a big tree falls, the earth shakes” remark, asked why the Gandhi family had never apologised, and asked Sikhs never to forget the wounds of 1984.”Answer these questions on the land of Punjab,” he asked Gandhi who is addressing a political rally in Sangrur today. Party leaders also challenged Rahul Gandhi to a public debate on 1984, saying he was fond of seeking debates on the electoral roll revision (SIR). BJP leader R P Singh asked Rahul Gandhi to debate with any of the three- Prasad, advocate H S Phoolka and Bibi Nirpreet Kaur for the debate.Addressing the conclave, Prasad said thousands of innocent people were burnt and killed after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. Her assassins were punished by law, he said, but the country had expected Rajiv Gandhi to console the victims. What came on November 19, 1984, was the tree remark. He asked Rahul Gandhi, who is in Punjab for a rally, what his answer to it was.Prasad said that as Information and Broadcasting Minister he was told the video of the remark had vanished from the archives. He said he summoned the Doordarshan archives director, gave him a deadline, and the footage was found by evening. He alleged that Congress workers had asked for it to be hidden. He said senior Sikh figures, including Air Marshal Arjan Singh and I K Gujral, had asked then President Giani Zail Singh and Home Minister P V Narasimha Rao to call in the Army. Gujral’s son had made a public statement on this, he said, which the Congress never answered.RP Singh, who spoke earlier, said survivors, Sikh representatives and social activists had urged Rahul Gandhi not to hold the Congress rally in Delhi on November 1, the day the killings began 42 years ago. The party went ahead regardless, he said, and had no right to hold a “justice rally” until it expelled Jagdish Tytler and Kamal Nath.He alleged that Tytler led a mob outside the Pul Bangash gurdwara and that Nath led one at Gurdwara Rakab Ganj, where Sohan Singh and Avtar Singh, who were serving water and langar, were killed. Both leaders later held high office, including as Union minister and chief minister, he said. He cited Sam Pitroda’s “what happened, happened” remark, noting that Pitroda still holds a senior party post, and said it reflected the party’s mindset towards Sikhs.Victims, including Bhagi Kaur, Satpal Kaur and Darshan Kaur, are still awaiting justice, he said. The community trusted the Constitution and would go from court to court, unlike Rahul Gandhi, who he said calls the judiciary “bought”. The CBI had failed several times to secure a conviction against Tytler, he said, but the community had not given up.BJP leader Kewal Singh Dhillon said what happened in Delhi in 1984 was a genocide, not riots, since riots take place between two groups. He said the Congress now spoke of “vote theft” and democracy, but in 1984 voter lists were used to identify Sikh homes. Citing the Mishra Commission report of 1985, he said about 5,000 Army personnel were ready by midnight on October 31, 1984, but were not given the go-ahead. The Nanavati Commission, set up in 2000, found that prompt police action could have saved many lives, he said.Dhillon asked Rahul Gandhi whom he would deliver justice to at the party’s “Insaaf Rally” in Sangrur on Wednesday. He said the Congress had first planned the Delhi rally for the same day as a Diljit Dosanjh show, which was moved after hearing the community’s concerns, but Rahul Gandhi insisted on the date.Prasad said he had a clear allegation that cases against the accused were not argued honestly during the Manmohan Singh government. Convictions came only after pressure from victims and the courts, he said, and advocate H S Phoolka would confirm this. He praised Phoolka for leaving the Aam Aadmi Party when he felt the fight for justice was not succeeding there, and welcomed the Padma Shri conferred on him.After the Narendra Modi government took office, an SIT was formed and several convicts were sentenced, including life terms and a death sentence, Prasad said. He said every attempt was made to shield Tytler in the Pul Bangash case. Charges have now been framed against Tytler, with the trial pending, he said, crediting witnesses such as Nirpreet Kaur. H K L Bhagat has died, Sajjan Kumar is in jail, and Balwant Khokhar, a councillor and Sajjan Kumar’s associate, is serving a life term, he said.The Nanavati Commission report came in 2005, after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had gone, and efforts to protect the accused then began, Prasad alleged. About 3,500 people were killed, he said, and the Congress was concerned only with saving three or four leaders. He asked why no action was taken against Sajjan Kumar, Bhagat, Tytler and Kamal Nath under Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao or Manmohan Singh. Nath was made chief minister and Tytler a minister, he noted, and Tytler was dropped from a party committee only after Sikhs protested.He said Manmohan Singh had expressed regret in Parliament, but the country was still waiting for Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to apologise. He said Modi had given Rs 5 lakh in additional compensation to victims.Taking up Rahul Gandhi’s talk of carrying the Constitution, Prasad asked what he had to say about Article 21, the right to life, for Sikhs killed in 1984. The wound, he said, would heal only when everyone responsible was punished, which is why it must not be forgotten.On Rahul Gandhi’s allegations about the electoral roll revision and the 2024 polls, Prasad asked whether Rahul Gandhi, who became an MP in 2024, would resign, and whether the Congress governments in Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka would do the same. He said Gyanesh Kumar was not the Chief Election Commissioner in 2024 and took charge in 2025.