Soon after the incident of stone-pelting and vandalism was reported from the Sikh shrine of Gurudwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan on Friday, the Congress party had been trying to dilute the significance of the incident. Earlier in the day, the Chattisgarh Congress had called one of the Nankana Sahib videos fake, and now, the Congress stalwart Ghulam Nabi Azad has attempted to trivialise the horrific attack by calling it “a non-issue.”
According to a report by The Republic TV, while addressing a press conference on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the Congress leader refused to even comment on the Nankana Sahib attack in Pakistan. He casually dismissed the horrific attack by laughing it off saying, “forget that.”
The reporter in the video footage is heard asking the Congress leader to comment on the Nankana Sahib attack in Pakistan. She says that the Congress CM of Punjab (Amrinder Singh) has asked Pakistan PM Imran Khan to intervene and his response she says is more of an eyewash. To this the Congress stalwart, Ghulam Nabi Azad is seen smirking and saying: “Forget that, it is not an issue. this (CAA) is the issue.”
Many Sikh devotees were stuck inside the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara last night, after an angry mob, led by the family of Mohammed Hassan, the boy who allegedly abducted and converted Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur, who is the daughter of the gurdwara’s granthi, gathered outside the shrine and raised communal and hateful slogans while pelting stones at the shrine.
The Nankana Sahib attack by the Muslim mob in Pakistan has been condemned by several opposition leaders in India, including Congress former president Rahul Gandhi, but still Ghulam Nabi Azad thinks it is a not a issue worth commenting.
Moreover, if the press conference was on some other issue, like say economy, than the Congress leader would have been correct in saying that the issue is not relevant to the current discussion. But the press conference was on Citizenship Amendment Bill, and therefore the Nanakana Sahib attack is a related issue. The CAA is designed for incidents like this, to give citizenship to religious minorities facing persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, which includes Sikhs.
Therefore, the attack on Sikhs and Sikh shrines in Pakistan is a relevant issue in the CAA, and it is not a non-issue like the Congress leader was claiming.