"I don't believe in these identities," former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said when, in an old interview, he was asked if he was "very conscious of his Sikh identity". "This is not to say that I am not proud to be a Sikh. I feel great pride. I am proud of my heritage. It's a heritage that strengthens my Indianness," he added.
Speaking about 1984 anti-Sikh riots, he said, "Those things should never have happened".