'3,000 Sikhs were killed under Congress rule...dangerous narrative': Minister slams Rahul Gandhi's remarks in US

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday lambasted Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over his remarks on Sikhs, saying the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha was setting a dangerous narrative by speaking about sensitive issues in the United States.

Condemning the remarks, Puri said Rahul Gandhi's statements in the US were sinister. He accused him of spreading falsehood among Sikhs based abroad.

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"I condemn in the strongest terms the statement he has made about Sikhs not being able to wear turbans and kadas," he said.

Referring to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that took place during the Congress's rule, Puri said, "If there has been one time in our history when as a community we have felt anxiety, a sense of insecurity and existential threat, it has been the times when Rahul Gandhi's family has been in the seats of power."

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"In 1984, a pogrom was carried out against the Sikh community. As many as 3,000 innocent people were killed. People were dragged out of their homes, tyres were put around them and burnt alive," he added.

What did Rahul Gandhi say?

In a gathering of Indian Americans in Herndon, a Virginia suburb of Washington DC, on Monday, Rahul Gandhi said his fight was about whether Sikhs could go to gurdwara or not.

"The fight is about whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India or a kada in India. Or he, as 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,” he said.

Hardeep Singh Puri lambasts Rahul Gandhi

He said Rahul Gandhi had been making statements on sensitive issues, which "involve our national identity, unity, the strength of our unity and diversity".

"I think he is trying to set a new kind of narrative which I think is a dangerous narrative," he added.

With inputs from PTI