Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 21: In the face of multiple police FIRs filed against him across the country mainly by the BJP leaders and scathing attack from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for the first time on Saturday broke his silence over his alleged anti-Sikh statements in the United States and said the ruling party was merely “spreading lies” in a bid to silence him from speaking the truth.
After having already clarified the BJP-raked up other controversy over the Congress party’s alleged intention to end reservation, Mr Gandhi on Saturday in a post on X shared a video clip, which runs for one minute and 50 seconds, and asked Sikhs whether there was anything wrong in what he had said and if India should not be a country where every Indian could practise their religion without fear.
“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 practise their religion without fear?” he asked.
“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,” Mr Gandhi added.
In the clip of his address at an event in Virginia’s Herndon on September 9, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha was speaking about religious freedom in India when he is seen asking a Sikh member of the audience seated on the front row his name and said, “The fight is about whether he, as a Sikh, is going to be allowed to wear a turban in India; or whether, he, as a Sikh, is going to be allowed to wear a ‘kada’ in India; or he, as a Sikh, is going to be able to go to a gurdwara. That’s what the fight is about, and not just for him, but for all religions… We are of the opinion that every state, tradition and language is as important as any other one. The fight is not about politics. That is superficial.”
The Congress leader then accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of treating certain States, languages, religions and communities as inferior to others. “We are of the opinion, whether you are from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, all of you have your history, tradition and language and every single one of them is as important as any other one,” he added.
The Congress leader was accused of making attempts to divide India and, on Saturday, the Karnataka BJP also filed a police complaint against him over the remarks besides multiple FIRs filed against him in Chhattisgarh and many other states in the country. Taking to X the same day, a defiant Mr Gandhi said he wanted to ask every member of the Sikh community, in India and abroad, whether he had done anything wrong, and accused the BJP of spreading lies.
Mr Gandhi asserted that the fight was about what type of India one is going to have. “Are we going to have an India where people are allowed to believe what they want to believe, people are allowed to respect what they want to respect, say what they want to say. Or are we going to have an India where only a few limited people can decide what is going to happen?” he noted.
“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?” he wrote in the post. “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.
On Friday, PM Modi had launched a stinging attack on Mr Gandhi without naming him, saying that the language used by Congress leaders on foreign land and their “anti-national agenda” shows that the party was being run by people from the ‘tukde tukde (break India) gang’ and ‘urban Naxals’.
Addressing an event in Maharashtra’s Wardha, the PM had said, “The spirit of patriotism has died in today’s Congress and the ghost of hatred has entered it. See the language used by people from the Congress, their anti-national agenda expressed on foreign land. (They are) talking about dividing and breaking up society and the country… insulting the culture and faith of India. This Congress is run by people from the ‘tukde tukde gang’ and ‘urban Naxals’… The royal family of the Congress is the most corrupt family in the country.”
This was the second time this week that the Prime Minister had fired a volley against Mr Gandhi on the issue. On Monday, he had said that “those filled with hate are defaming India… and acting against the interests of the country” and had used the ‘tukde tukde’ phrase then as well.
