Bittu calls Rahul Gandhi ‘No. 1 terrorist’ over Sikh remarks, stokes row

Union Minister and BJP leader Ravneet Singh Bittu on Sunday stoked a major controversy after he described Congress MP and LoP Rahul Gandhi as “number one terrorist of the country”, while reacting to his comments on the Sikh community, made last week in the US.

Speaking to mediapersons in Bhagalpur, Bittu, who is minister of state for railways, called Gandhi “the number one terrorist of the country”, and also claimed that “he was not an Indian”. The Congress condemned Bittu’s remarks, with Punjab LoP Partap Singh Bajwa calling them “disgraceful and unconstitutional”.

The minister made these comments in reaction to the Congress leader’s remarks made in the US last week, when Gandhi had said: “The fight (in India) is about whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear a turban...whether a Sikh will be allowed to wear a kada or go to a gurdwara. That’s what the fight is about, and it’s not just for Sikhs, but for all religions.”

The Congress leader had made the remarks while commenting on the state of religious freedom in India. Asked for his reaction on Gandhi’s comments, Bittu said there should be a reward for catching him as he was “the biggest enemy of the country”.

Reacting to the remarks, Congress leader Bajwa said: “Such a statement not only reflects a complete lack of respect for a fellow MP, but also exposes Bittu’s alarming ignorance of basic tenets of the Constitution.”