India
Khalistan terrorist Gurpatwant Pannun endorses Rahul Gandhi’s remark on ‘threat to Sikhs in India’ | India News – Times of India
NEW DELHI: The Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a banned Khalistan terror group, has expressed support for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent remarks on religious freedom of the Sikh community in India. Gandhi’s remarks at an event in Washington DC, United States, have fueled a fresh controversy.
Speaking at the event, Gandhi said, “The struggle in India is over whether a Sikh can wear a turban and kada and go to the gurdwara.” Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, co-founder of SFJ, issued a statement saying that Gandhi had endorsed SFJ’s global campaign for the Khalistan referendum.
Pannun described Gandhi’s remarks as “bold and path-breaking”. “Rahul’s statement on ‘existential threat to Sikhs in India’ is not only bold and path-breaking but is also firmly grounded in the factual history of what Sikhs have endured under successive regimes in India since 1947 and also reaffirms SFJ’s stand on the justification for Punjab Independence Referendum to establish Sikh homeland Khalistan,” Pannun said in the statement.
Speaking to a gathering of Indian Americans, Rahul Gandhi accused the RSS of considering certain religions, languages and communities inferior to others. He said that the struggle in India is not about politics, but about the rights of individuals to practice their religion freely. Gandhi specifically asked a Sikh present, “What is your name, brother with the turban?” and then said, “The struggle is about whether a Sikh can wear his turban in India or a kada in India. Or whether he, as a Sikh, can go to a gurdwara. That is what the struggle is about. And not just for him, for all religions.”
“Fighting is also about, I see here in the crowd, people from Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. When I say Kerala, I have been an MP from Kerala. When I say Kerala, Kerala is a simple word, and Punjab is a simple word, but these are not simple words. This is your history, your language, your tradition. Your whole imagination is in these words,” the Congress leader said.
Rahul is currently on a four-day visit to the United States. His first stop was in Dallas on Saturday and he arrived in Washington DC on Monday.
Speaking at the event, Gandhi said, “The struggle in India is over whether a Sikh can wear a turban and kada and go to the gurdwara.” Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, co-founder of SFJ, issued a statement saying that Gandhi had endorsed SFJ’s global campaign for the Khalistan referendum.
Pannun described Gandhi’s remarks as “bold and path-breaking”. “Rahul’s statement on ‘existential threat to Sikhs in India’ is not only bold and path-breaking but is also firmly grounded in the factual history of what Sikhs have endured under successive regimes in India since 1947 and also reaffirms SFJ’s stand on the justification for Punjab Independence Referendum to establish Sikh homeland Khalistan,” Pannun said in the statement.
Speaking to a gathering of Indian Americans, Rahul Gandhi accused the RSS of considering certain religions, languages and communities inferior to others. He said that the struggle in India is not about politics, but about the rights of individuals to practice their religion freely. Gandhi specifically asked a Sikh present, “What is your name, brother with the turban?” and then said, “The struggle is about whether a Sikh can wear his turban in India or a kada in India. Or whether he, as a Sikh, can go to a gurdwara. That is what the struggle is about. And not just for him, for all religions.”
“Fighting is also about, I see here in the crowd, people from Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. When I say Kerala, I have been an MP from Kerala. When I say Kerala, Kerala is a simple word, and Punjab is a simple word, but these are not simple words. This is your history, your language, your tradition. Your whole imagination is in these words,” the Congress leader said.
Rahul is currently on a four-day visit to the United States. His first stop was in Dallas on Saturday and he arrived in Washington DC on Monday.
