In US, Rahul says rights of Sikhs under threat; BJP rakes up 1984

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday drew sharp criticism over his remarks on Sikhs during an event in Virginia, US. Interacting with Indian community members, Rahul asked a person his name and then said the fight was about whether he “will be allowed to wear a turban or kara in India. That’s what the fight is about and not just for him, for all religions”.

Senior BJP leader Hardeep Puri described Rahul’s remarks as a “dangerous and false narrative”. “Some sensitive issues involve our national identity, our unity, the strength of our unity in diversity. When he (Rahul) comments on these issues, I think he attempts to set a dangerous narrative,” Puri said, asking why Rahul whipped up imagined Sikh anxieties out of the blue.

“If there has been one time in our history as a community where we have felt a sense of insecurity and an existential threat, it has been in times when Rahul’s family was in power,” Puri lashed back. He said in 1984, a pogrom was carried out against the Sikhs.