New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said that Inder Kumar Gujral's advice to then home minister Narsimha Rao would have prevented the 1984 massacres, if later had heard and acted over it. Speaking at an event organised to remember former Prime Minister IK Gujral on his 100th birth anniversary, Singh said, "When the sad event of 1984 took place, Gujral ji that very evening went to the then Home Minister Narsimha Rao and said to him that the situation is so grim that it is necessary for the government to call the army at the earliest. If that advice would have been heeded perhaps the massacre that took place in 1984 could have been avoided".

Singh also spoke as to how his relationship with the former Prime Minister grew, post the emergency period. "He was the minister of Information and Broadcasting and he had problems with some aspects of the management of emergency and then he was removed to the planning commission as minister of state. I was then an economic advisor with the ministry of finance... Thereafter our relationship grew", Singh added.