Rahul about anti-Sikh riot culprits

New Delhi, January 11: Congress President Rahul Gandhi, in an exclusive interview to Gulf News, ahead of his maiden visit to UAE, "I am very clear on 1984 that anybody, regardless of where he comes from, if he has harmed members of the minority community, he should be punished."

While speaking to media, he said "We will punish those who think that they can get away by crushing India. They should not be under the impression that they can crush the weak people. I am very clear in 1984 that anybody, regardless of where he comes from, if he has harmed members of the minority community, he should be punished. The legal system will make sure that the justice is done [in 1984 cases] and we will allow the justice system to work. The legal structure that we have, the laws that we have, are good enough to deal with the problems as long as institutions like the Supreme Court are free to do their work."

And speaking about alliances for 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul unearthed confidence about party s ability in Uttar Pradesh and said that the Congress will surprise people in the state.

"Our first aim is to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There are states where we are very strong and we are the primary party and are contesting the BJP directly. There are states where there are possible alliances - Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Bihar. where we are working out an alliance formula. There are very interesting things that the Congress party can do in Uttar Pradesh... the Congress idea is very powerful for Uttar Pradesh. So, we are very confident of our ability in Uttar Pradesh and we will surprise people," said Rahul to the Gulf News editor, who came to Delhi for Rahul s interview.

Gandhi is on two days tour of UAE on January 11 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on January 12.