New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday responded to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) fierce criticism of his recent comments on the Sikh community during a speech in the United States. Accusing the BJP of distorting his words to create a false narrative, Gandhi took to social media platform X to address the controversy.
Sharing a clip from his September 10 address, Gandhi wrote: “The BJP has been spreading lies about my remarks in America. I want to ask every Sikh brother and sister in India and abroad—is there anything wrong in what I have said? Shouldn’t India be a country where every Sikh—and every Indian—can freely practice their religion without fear?”
The Congress leader defended his comments made in the US, asserting that the ruling party was attempting to silence him because they were “desperate” to avoid confronting the truth.
“As usual, the BJP is resorting to lies. They are desperate to silence me because they cannot stand the truth. But I will always speak up for the values that define India: our unity in diversity, equality, and love,” he added.
During his address to a gathering of Indian Americans in Herndon, Virginia—a suburb of Washington D.C.—Gandhi touched on the challenges faced by minority communities in India.
He accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological backbone of the BJP, of promoting a vision of India where certain religions, languages, and communities are considered inferior.
“The fight is not about politics, that is superficial,” Gandhi said in the video. “The fight is about whether he (pointing to a Sikh man) will be allowed to wear his turban, his kada, and go to gurdwara in India.”
“And that’s not just him, for all religions. What the RSS is basically saying is that ‘certain states are inferior to other states, certain languages are inferior to other languages, certain communities are inferior to other communities.”
“We are of the opinion that whether you are from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh — all of you have your history, traditions, language and every single one is as important as any other one…The fight is about what type of India we are going to have.”
Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri was among the first to lash out at Gandhi, calling his remarks “sinister” and alleging that he was spreading falsehoods about the treatment of Sikhs in India. Addressing a press conference, Puri suggested that Gandhi was manipulating the emotions of the Sikh diaspora, many of whom, he claimed, were out of touch with the realities in India.
“Rahul Gandhi was trying to spread a false narrative while speaking in front of those, who belong to my community and are trying to eke out a living in the US with hard work and honesty,” said Puri. “They do not have much connection with the country (India).”
Puri also warned that Gandhi’s statements could damage the social fabric of the nation. “I think this is far more sinister because he is trying to set a new kind of narrative, which I think is dangerous.”
Defence minister Rajnath Singh expressed disappointment that the leader of the opposition was tarnishing India’s image on the global stage.
“It is extremely shameful that the Leader of Opposition is hurting the dignity of India by saying misleading, baseless, and factless things during his foreign tour,” Singh said. He categorically denied Gandhi’s claims that Sikhs in India were being prevented from practising their faith.
“The Sikh community is not only allowed but is respected for its religious practices. The entire country recognises and honours the great role played by Sikhs in protecting our culture,” Singh added.
