While Rahul Gandhi’s comment on the religious freedom of Sikhs in India invited criticism from BJP leaders, the Leader of Opposition has found a supporter in the form of Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Pannun found Gandhi’s comment “bold and pioneering”. He said, “Rahul’s statement on ’existential threat to Sikhs in India’ is not only bold and pioneering but is also firmly grounded in the factual history of what Sikhs have been facing under successive regimes in India since 1947 and also corroborates SFJ’s stance on the justification for Punjab Independence Referendum to establish Sikh homeland Khalistan.”
Pannun is the leader of the US-based Khalistani separatist group Sikhs for Justice and has time and again threatened India to further his campaign.
The Congress MP on Tuesday stirred controversy after he said that religious freedom for Sikhs in India is under threat during an event in Washington DC. Gandhi is on a three-day visit to the US.
“Fight in India is whether a Sikh will be allowed to wear turban and kada, go to gurdwara. That’s what the fight is about, and it’s not just for Sikhs, but for all religions,” he said.
Slamming Gandhi for maligning India’s image on foreign soil, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, ” “If there has been one time in our history when as a community we (Sikhs) have felt anxiety, a sense of insecurity and existential threat, it has been the times when Rahul Gandhi’s family were in the seats of power.”
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