New Delhi: The BJP has launched an attack on Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for his comments during his US tour. Union minister Hardeep Puri said that Gandhi was spreading a “dangerous” narrative around Sikhs when he said that Sikhs were facing difficulties in India.
In a press conference at the party’s headquarters union minister for petroleum Hardeep Puri said that Gandhi has spoken on sensitive issues without knowing the facts.
“There are some sensitive issues, which involve our national identity, unity, strength in unity in diversity. When he speaks on such topics, it seems like he is trying to set a new, rather dangerous narrative on those things,” said Puri.
Gandhi had said during one of his public interactions that Sikhs are scared of wearing a kada and a turban under the Modi regime. In a retort, Puri said that the only time Sikhs were scared of wearing their identity was when the Congress was in power, especially during the Sikh riots of 1984 after the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
“I don’t think Sikhs have felt safer and more honoured at any time in our history after 1947 (than now). If there has been one time in our history as a community where we have felt a sense of insecurity and existential threat, it has been at times when Rahul Gandhi’s family has been in power. In 1984, a pogrom was carried out against the Sikh community where 3000 innocent people were killed,” Puri said.
At an interaction at Herndon in Virginia, Gandhi said, "One must first understand what the fight is about. It is not about politics... The fight is about whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India... or if a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear a kada in India... or if a Sikh is going to be able to go to a gurdwara. That is what the fight is about and (it is) not just for a Sikh. It is for all religions,” Gandhi had said.
Published 10 September 2024, 10:30 IST