‘You create fear among Sikhs…': Man confronts Rahul Gandhi in US, Congress MP replies, ‘happy to take responsibility'

Mint

04-05-2025

Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was at a student interaction at the Brown University in the US, when he was seemingly confronted by a young Sikh man, who accused the Congress leader of 'creating a fear among Sikhs'.
At an interaction at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University two weeks ago, Gandhi was told, 'You create a fear among Sikhs about what BJP would look like, you talked about how politics should be fearless… we don't just want to wear 'kadas', we don't just want to tie turbans… we want freedom of expression, which has not been allowed under the Congress Party in the past.'
The young man was referring to Gandhi's earlier statement that '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 the Gurudwara'.
In a video now going viral on social media, the same Sikh man can be heard talking about the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, which he says talks about Dalit rights and mentions nothing of separatism, but the then Congress still labelled it a separatist document.
While referring to former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, who was convicted of murder linked to the 1984 riots, the Sikh man said, 'This is something your party has done, your party seems to lack the maturity to accept the mistakes it has made,' adding, 'Many more Sajjan Kumars are sitting in Congress Party'.
Finally, the man asked Gandhi, 'You tell us to fear what the 'BJP India' would look like, but you haven't tried to reconcile with the Sikhs. What attempts are you making, because if you continue like this, BJP is also going to make its way into Punjab.'
Gandhi responded to every statement the Sikh man had put up during the Q&A session. First, Gandhi clarified his 'fight in India for Sikhs' statement by saying, 'The statement I made was that do we want an India where people are uncomfortable to express their religion?'
Second, he responded to the Sikh man's comments on the grand old party's past mistakes. 'As far as mistakes of Congress Party are concerned, a lot of those happened when I was not there, but I am more than happy to take responsibility for everything the Congress party has ever done wrong in its history,' Rahul Gandhi said.
'I have publicly stated that what happened in the 80s was wrong, I have been to the Golden Temple multiple times, I have extremely good relationships with the Sikh community in India,' he added.
The Indira Gandhi government had crushed a separatist movement in Punjab, when the Indian Army had stormed the premises of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, during 'Operation Blue Star', in 1984. The leader of the separatist movement, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a radical preacher, was killed in the operation.
This Army operation, inside one of the holiest sites for Sikhism, had sparked massive unrest and resentment among the community. Months later, Indira Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi's grandmother, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.
Massive and violent riots against Sikhs broke out across the country after her assassination. Several Congress leaders are accused of having fuelled the violence. According to government estimates, over 3,000 Sikhs were killed in Delhi and elsewhere.
Senior BJP leader Amit Malviya, while sharing the video on his account on X, said that 'it is quite unprecedented that Rahul Gandhi is now being ridiculed not just in India, but around the world.'
'You haven't reconciled with the Sikhs,' a young man tells Rahul Gandhi to his face, reminding him of the unfounded fear-mongering he engaged in during his last visit to the US,' Malviya wrote in his post.
Tuhin A Sinha, BJP's national spokesperson, also slammed the Congress leader in a post on X. 'The ignorant dynast is seen struggling for an answer. This is how RG's pack of lies will get exposed on every issue!' he wrote.
First Published: 4 May 2025, 06:46 PM IST