Rahul Gandhi justified Sikhs for Justice's Khalistani referendum campaign: Gurpatwant Singh Pannun

'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,' Pannun said in a statement.

Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun has said in a statement that Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has justified the Sikhs for Justice's Khalistani referendum campaign by saying on his US visit, "Fight in India is on whether a Sikh will be allowed to wear a turban and kada, go to gurudwara."

"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 further said in his statement.

What did Gandhi say?

Addressing a gathering of several hundred Indian Americans in Herndon, a Virginia suburb of Washington DC, on Monday, Gandhi accused the RSS of considering some religions, languages and communities of being inferior to others and said the fight in India is about this and not about politics.

"First of all, you have to understand what the fight is about. The fight is not about politics. That is superficial," Gandhi said as he asked one of the Sikh attendees in the front rows to give his name. "What is your name, brother with the turban," he asked.

"The fight is about whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India or a kada in India. Or he, as a Sikh, is going to be able to go to a gurdwara. That's what the fight is about. And not just for him, for all religions," said Gandhi, who is on a four-day visit to the US, which began Saturday.

How did the BJP react?

The BJP came down heavily on Gandhi over his remarks, saying the Congress leader is trying to create a "dangerous narrative" by speaking on "sensitive issues" abroad.

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri told a press conference at the BJP headquarters here that Gandhi's remarks were "sinister" in nature as he tried to spread falsehood among the members of the Sikh community living abroad to "eke out a living" and do not have much connection with India.

With his remarks, the Congress leader has attacked the country, its legal system and electoral system, he said.

"I condemn in the strongest terms the statement he has made about Sikhs not being able to wear turbans and kadas," the BJP leader from the Sikh community said.

Referring to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that happened during the Congress' rule, Puri said, "If there has been one time in our history when as a community we have felt anxiety, a sense of insecurity and existential threat, it has been the times when Rahul Gandhi's family has been in the seats of power."

"In 1984, a pogrom was carried out against the Sikh community. As many as 3,000 innocent people were killed. People were dragged out of their homes, tyres were put around them and burnt alive," he said.

That was the only time in history when Sikhs faced a problem for their turbans as they faced an existential threat after Rajiv Gandhi's statement that when a big tree falls, the earth shakes, Puri said.

"In the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, many of my friends shed their turbans and got clean shaven out of fear because they were attacked," he added.

(With PTI inputs)