Union Minister Puri attacks Rahul Gandhi for his comments on Sikhs, terming them sinister attempts

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri who is in Washington DC for discussions with United States Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm on Monday (local time) hit out at Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. The Union Minister said he sees a more sinister attempt to form a divisive narrative in the comments of the LoP.

“I have worn a turban 62 years of my life. I’ve worn a kada even longer. I think most children in our families when they’re born, the first occasion, you know, they put a kada around. But, I think the more disturbing trend is, you know, to say that this is a statement which was made out of ignorance, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I think that’s wrong. I think there is a more systematic sinister, and I’m using this word carefully, attempt to foment a divisive narrative, to create a sense of insecurity and freedom. Now, my brothers and sisters who came to the United States to work here many years ago. Some of them have active contacts with their home country. Some of them just go through social media or whatever they read. Now, if you foment a narrative like this that Sikhs are finding it difficult or insecure to wear turban, some of them may actually believe it, which is not the case,” Hardeep Puri said.

The Minister said that it was during the Congress regime in 1984 that one of worst anti-Sikh riots had taken place and Sikhs were targeted for wearing a turban.

“If there has been any time in the history of our post independence existence, when there was an existential threat to the Sikhs or the felt one, I’ve experienced it myself, it was during the 1984, I don’t know, use the word riots because it was a one sided pogrom against, you know, innocent people, 3000 of whom were killed in cold blood in India. And if you look at what happened before that in the 80s in the run up to the Asian Games, Sikhs used to be taken out of buses, etc. and because you’re a turban Sikh, you go on the side,” he said.

Hardeep Puri said that it was Prime Minister Modi who had done many things for the Sikhs including the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, while the LoP had even referred to Sikhs being second class citizens in the country.

“I’m proud to be a government minister. Before that, I was a civil servant. I was a diplomat for 39 years, but I was a diplomat not because any government appointed me. I appeared in a UPSC examination and qualified and under different governments. Now, I think it’s a matter of great pride for somebody like me to say that the Sikhs have never had it so good, all the grievances which were there have actually been addressed by the honorable Prime Minister, whether it is removing names of Sikhs from the blacklist, whether it is addressing the issue of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor or, you know, celebrating the Sahibzada’s contribution in terms of Vir Bal Divas, etc. All that is there. What I’m surprised about is that there seems to be a pattern in this. And last year this honourable Leader of Opposition came here and he said Sikhs were second class citizens,” he said.

The Minister said that by making those remarks Rahul Gandhi was trying to spread insecurities amongst the Sikh community at a time of elections in the US.

“Whilst he’s attacking an ideology, he’s trying to, you know, build a narrative by turning around and saying you cannot practice your religion. Has anybody in India told him that? Now the people who are supporting up, no, no, there are some grievances. Every community has grievances. Let me assure you the majority community also has grievances that they are made to sometimes feel like a minority community in their own country. There are other minority communities. But the beauty of a democracy, and by the way, we have 960 million registered voters and something like 680 million actually turned out to vote. That is a celebration of democracy. There are differences of opinion in the United States. But, if somebody who should know better, comes out here and at a time when there’s an election going on, makes it a point to go to places to place to fret insecurity. In our country, we say that that they are spreading lies and rumours,” Puri said.

At a recent interaction in the US, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, had claimed that the fight is about whether a Sikh, is going to be allowed to wear a turban in India and would be able to visit a Gurdwara.

“First of all, you have to understand what the fight is about. Fight is not about politics. It is superficial. What is your name? The fight is about whether he, as a Sikh, is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India. Or he as a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear a kada in India. Or a Sikh is going to be able to go to Gurdwara. That’s what the fight is about and not just for him, for all religions,” Puri said