New Delhi: When Rahul Gandhi pointed out a Sikh man’s religion in the US and claimed that he wouldn’t be able to wear a turban, kada or go to a Gurdwara in India, the Congress leader could have instead made a case of the community to which he claims to belong.
Rahul has been saying that he is a Kashmiri Hindu, a minority community which faced persecution in Muslim-majority Kashmir. The community bore the brunt of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in the valley which resulted in the exodus of its members. Around seven lakh Hindus were forced to flee the valley in the 1990s when they were given the ultimatum to either convert, die or leave. Hundreds of the minuscule community were brutally murdered, many were kidnapped and tortured, and women were abducted, gang-raped, and mercilessly killed.
With no political party or leader or any organisation taking up the case and no help from the local administration and police in that terror-ridden period, the community was left with no choice but to abandon the land where it had lived for over 5,000 years. Since their exodus in the 1990s, the community has been fighting a lonely battle for existence and justice.
In the over-three-decade struggle, there has been no leader, not even Rahul Gandhi himself, ever sought justice for them. There has been no SIT or judicial commission which could have probed the purge, identified the perpetrators and their masters and given justice to the hundreds of those Kashmiri Pandits whose near and dear were killed or to the whole community.
Rahul had the perfect case of persecution before him which he could have spoken of. He could have put before the US audience the case of how the jihadi-terror nexus impacts people. He could have told them how temples were vandalised, and Hindu properties looted and burnt. He could have told them about how young Girja Tickoo was kidnapped in 1990, gang-raped for several days and cut in half using a mechanical saw while she was still alive. He could have told the US people about how the members of ‘his’ community were forced to hide visible signs of their identity out of fear of being targeted on the streets.
But Rahul did nothing of the sort. He made a case for the Sikh community. During an interaction at an event in the US, he asked a Sikh in the audience his name. After he replied “Balvinder Singh”, Rahul said, “The fight is about whether he, as a Sikh, is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India and he, as a Sikh, is going to be allowed to wear a ‘kada’ (bracelet) in India, or he as a Sikh is going to be able to go to a Gurdwara. That’s what the fight is about … not just for him, for all religions.”
While talking about the Sikhs, he forgot that the only time the community faced a terrible time in Independent India was during the reign of his father, Rajiv Gandhi. The late Prime Minister seemingly justified the killings following the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi by her Sikh security personnel.
Rahul claims that the fight in India is not about politics but about caste, religion, region, ethnicity, and community. If it is so, then why didn’t Rahul pinpoint the persecution of the Kashmiri Pandits before the US audience? Is it that the Kashmiri Pandit community is no big voting entity, nor does it have huge monies or strong lobbies, so essential for today’s politicians to succeed?
Perhaps, the answer lay in the question itself. Persecution of Hindus in Muslim-dominated Kashmir is no case for the Gandhi scion whose eyes are set on identified blocks of the electorate. Of these blocks, the Muslim community is at the top spot and the others include the Dalits and OBCs. In the April-June Lok Sabha elections, Muslims voted overwhelmingly for the Congress and its INDIA bloc, which won 232 seats. The number was below the halfway mark of 272. The BJP won 240 seats, falling short of a majority on its own and leaving it dependent on allies to form the government for the third time in continuation.
The performance of the Congress and the INDIA bloc has emboldened Rahul, who has been aggressively talking about caste and religion not just in India but also in foreign lands. His recent claims in the US are a pointer to his post-2024 Lok Sabha results enthusiasm.
Rahul’s strategy is clear-cut — selectively picking up the causes of groups and communities that have a considerable impact on the political field. The target is the Muslims, Dalits and OBCs – a huge chunk of the electorate – which if penetrated can lead one to the country’s top chair – the Prime Minister, and that is what he is aiming at.
In this power strategy, for him and his strategists, his ‘own’ community’s graph falls in the minus category. Hence, their plight is not a case for him and never he will refer to this before any audience.
(Deepika Bhan can be contacted at deepika.b@ians.in)
–IANS