BJP’s Sikh Leaders Decry Rahul Gandhi’s Comments On Their Community In The US; ‘Dangerous Narrative’

New Delhi: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday slammed Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, over comments in the United States, including criticism of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and seeing the battle with the BJP as an ideological divide over questions like “is a Sikh allowed to wear a turban (or) kada?”

Puri accused Gandhi of spreading a “dangerous narrative” among the diaspora in the US, and for criticising the government while abroad and holding the Leader of the Opposition post.

“I think there is something far more sinister… the people in front of him (at an event in the US where Mr Gandhi was speaking) were from my community. They eke out a living in the US, and don’t have a strong connection with the country. And to them Rahulji is spreading this false narrative…” Puri said.

Puri also spoke strongly against Gandhi’s comment on the BJP-Congress divide being about freedom of action, such as the practice of religion. Notably, Gandhi had referred to the practice of Sikhism and said, “The fight is not about politics. The fight is about whether a Sikh can wear his turban… it is for all religions.”

“I have been wearing a turban for over six decades and a kada for longer… and never had a problem,” Puri asserted. He reminded Gandhi the only time India’s Sikhs faced an “existential crisis” was when his family was in power, referring to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots after Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

“… if there has been one time in our history as a community we have felt anxiety, and that is too mild a term, we have felt an existential threat… it was when Rahul Gandhi’s family was in power.”

“In 1984 a pogrom was carried out against the Sikhs. Three thousand innocent people were killed… dragged out of their homes, tires were put around them, and they were burned alive.” Puri then referred to Rajiv Gandhi’s controversial “whenever a big tree falls, the earth shakes” comment and said it was “as close to a justification for targeting a minority community as I have seen”.

Before Puri, another BJP leader, National Secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa, also accused Gandhi of using “hateful words” against Sikhs and said, “Your dirty politics is dividing the country. You have stooped so low that you allege Sikhs in India cannot wear turbans and kada… you say Sikhs and gurdwaras are not safe in India. I condemn his words.”

“India is proud of its Sikhs. You used gurdwara, dastar or pagh (turban), kada and kripaan (the curved blade wielded by Khalsa Sikhs) to spread hate in your heart against Sikhs…” he alleged.

What Rahul Gandhi said

Interacting with the Indian diaspora at an event in Virginia in the US, Rahul Gandhi had stressed the fight between the BJP and the opposition, much of which had banded together under the INDIA umbrella to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party in the Lok Sabha poll, is “ideological”. He had also stressed this fight is “for all religions”, and attacked the RSS and the BJP, saying neither understands that India is for all people.

Using a plate of food, a thali, as an example, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said, “In India, everything works together…if someone says rice is more important than dal (in a thali) and vegetable are the least important, what will happen? That is what BJP does,” he said.

Gandhi also said something had “changed” after the election, in which the INDIA bloc stopped the BJP from an outright majority and left it relying on the NDA to form the government.