NEW DELHI, India: The Narendra Modi government was responsible for “abetting and pushing” the 2002 Gujarat riots while the Congress government tried to stop the 1984 riots, Rahul Gandhi said in his first sit-down television interview without apologizing for the anti-Sikh violence following assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh guard.

Pitted against Modi in a virtual presidential-style contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi said he was not scared of him and claimed that the Congress would defeat the BJP.

Making a direct attack on Modi, he said, “The fact of the matter is that innocent people died in 1984 and innocent people dying is a horrible thing and should not happen. The difference between Gujarat and 1984 was that the government of Gujarat was involved in the riots.”

Asked in an interview on Times Now how he could say that when Modi has been given a clean chit by the courts, Gandhi said, “…he was the chief minister when the Gujarat riots happened… The government in Gujarat was actually abetting and pushing the riots further.”

Seeking to differentiate the role of governments during the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi and 2002 in Gujarat, he said, “The simple difference is that in 1984, the government was not involved in the massacre of people. In Gujarat it was.”

Asked if he would apologize for the 1984 riots, Gandhi said, “First of all, I wasn’t involved in the riots at all. It wasn’t that I was a part of it.” At the same time, he admitted that “some Congress men were probably involved.”