New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) The BJP slammed Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday for calling Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu a traitor and said the Congress leader did not just insult him with his remarks but the entire Sikh community.
At a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, four Sikh leaders of the party, including Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, alleged that Gandhi’s remarks reflected his mindset and his family’s deep-seated hatred against Sikhs.
The entire Sikh community is “anguished” over the Congress leader’s remarks and it would never forgive him, they said.
This came after Gandhi exchanged barbs with Bittu, a former Congress leader who is now with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the Parliament House complex. In videos released by the Congress, Gandhi was heard calling Bittu “a traitor” and the minister retorting with the “desh ke dushman” (enemy of the nation) jibe.
Taking serious exception to Gandhi’s remarks, Puri said, “This word, traitor, cannot be taken lightly. The word is used for someone who has betrayed his country. This is a very sensitive issue for the Sikh community.”
He alleged that Gandhi called Bittu a traitor simply because the latter had quit the Congress.
“Ravneet Singh Bittu is not just an MP from Ludhiana, he is not just a member of a Sikh family that has served the country, his grandfather — Sardar Beant Singh — who was the chief minister of Punjab, fell to an assassin’s bullet. And you call him a traitor. This is completely unacceptable,” Puri said.
“Just because a person wears a turban and he left your party, you call him a traitor,” he added.
Reacting sharply, Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, “Sikh is the sardar (leader) of Bharat and it is Rahul Gandhi’s family that has betrayed the country. Sikh sardar, Rahul Gandhi gaddar (traitor).”
The Gandhi family has for generations treated Sikhs as its enemies and harboured “hatred” against the community, he alleged.
“The way they look at us came out of his heart today. I condemn his (Rahul Gandhi’s) remarks in strongest words,” he added.
In an apparent reference to Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Sirsa said Sikhs were betrayed when their “scared places” were attacked and the members of the community “burnt alive” during the Congress rule.
“They had even placed advertisements in newspapers to declare us as terrorists…. We thought their mindset would change after 40 years. But even today, they are still living with the same mentality,” the BJP leader said.
Sirsa said Sikh is a marshal community and its members are patriots, ready to sacrifice even their lives for the country.
He also urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to take action against Gandhi for insulting the community with his remarks.
Delhi BJP MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely said Gandhi has not only insulted Bittu by calling him a traitor but the entire Sikh community.
“You (Rahul Gandhi) view that person as a traitor whose grandfather sacrificed his life for the unity and integrity of this country, and those who talk about breaking the country into pieces is the apple of your eye. It is unfortunate,” he said.
The problem is that Gandhi has still not been able to get rid of his “ruler mindset”, Lovely said.
“The Sikh community will not forgive him for his remarks. This is not just an insult to Ravneet Singh Bittu but the entire Sikh community and its sacrifices. In the coming days, the Congress and Rahul Gandhi will have to face its consequences,” the BJP leader added.
Lovely alleged that this is not the first time that Gandhi has insulted Sikhs.
“Dr Manmohan Singh was a good man. It was Rahul Gandhi who established him as a weak prime minister by tearing a bill passed by his cabinet,” he said.
BJP national spokesperson R P Singh also slammed Gandhi over his remarks, saying it is in his DNA to commit atrocities against Sikhs. PTI PK RC
