India, May 6 -- Speaking at Brown University, US, in late April, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that "as far as mistakes of the Congress party are concerned, a lot of those mistakes happened when I was not there, but I am more than happy to take responsibility for everything that the Congress has ever done wrong". In the specific case of the anti-Sikh riots, Rahul Gandhi said what happened in 1984 was wrong. The leader of the Opposition's assumption of ownership of his party's past actions is welcome, of course; because politicians rarely own up to their (or their party's) mistakes in public; most of them hope for Father Time to heal the wounds or cause people to forget and escape accountability for their actions. Political parties do admit to mistakes in tactics and strategy and course correct, but it is rare for them to apologise to the victims of their mistakes. Every political party and leader must occasionally pause and reflect on their journey and account for the mistakes made. In the case of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which took place in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister (PM) Indira Gandhi, a public apology was tendered by PM Manmohan Singh, a Congress leader and a Sikh, in Parliament. On August 11, 2005, PM Singh told the Rajya Sabha, "What took place in 1984 is the negation of the concept of nationhood enshrined in our Constitution." The Nanavati Commission implicated several Congress leaders, including Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar, in the riots in which close to 3,000 Sikhs died in mob attacks made possible by State inaction. Rajiv Gandhi, who took over as PM after his mother Indira, infamously explained away the events as "when a giant tree falls, the earth below shakes". Much has changed in politics since. In the case of Rahul Gandhi, he has never held office which also means the actions the Congress leader will be asked to account for happen under the watch of his predecessors. That said, how far can a politician walk on the path of redemption, without making an apology sound procedural or banal? The nation will mark 50 years of the Emergency, a dark hour in the history of Indian democracy, in June. The Emergency, imposed by a Congress government, led to the suspension of civil rights and the incarceration of nearly the entire Opposition in the country for 19 months. Many party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, have admitted that it was a mistake. A public apology may be in order. A politics of confession that encourages politicians and parties to confess and offer regret for their errors - from corruption to communal riots to unprincipled alliances and party-hopping - could surely be a cathartic experience that may help cleanse the body politic of accumulated unacknowledged wrongdoings....