On May 30 (local time) Congress’s disqualified MP Rahul Gandhi made his first appearance of a week-long visit to the United States. During his speech, as Gandhi spread Khalistan propaganda claiming that Sikhs are facing atrocities in India, he was interrupted by none other than Khalistanis raising slogans against Indira Gandhi. All Gandhi could do was push his ‘Nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan’ (A shop of love in the market of hate) propaganda.
Slogans raised by Khalistanis
During his speech, as soon as he talked about opening a ‘shop of love’ in the ‘market of hate’, pro-Khalistanis sitting in the back started raising slogans like ‘Nasalkhushi ke vyapari’ (businessman of Genocide) and ‘Khalistan Zindabad’. They also raised slogans for him to go back to India. Calling him a member of India Gandhi’s family they said, ‘Wapas Jao’.
The protestors at the venue also displayed the Khalistan flags they were carrying. A video showing the Khalistani protestors chanting slogans and waving Khalistani flags was released by US-based Khalistani outfit Sikhs for Justice. Claiming responsibility for the disruption, SFJ chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannun claimed that they will do the same stunt during the upcoming US visit of PM Narendra Modi.
Pannu said in the video, ‘You just watched what we did to these traders of Sikh genocide, Congress, Rahul Gandhi’. He added that wherever Rahul Gandhi goes in America, Khalistani Sikhs will be present there to confront him. He then added, ‘Rahul Gandhi, this is what we did to you, and Modi, you are next on 22nd June at White House’.
It is notable that president Biden will host PM Modi at the White House on 22 June at a state dinner.
After the slogans, he claimed that the thing about the Congress party is that “we have affection towards everybody.” He said, “If someone wants to say something regardless of what they are saying, we are happy to listen to it. We are not going to get angry. We are not going to get aggressive. We will nicely listen to it. In fact, we will be affectionate to them. We will be loving to them because that is our nature.”
Rahul Gandhi spread Khalistani propaganda
After his speech, a member of the Bay Area Muslim community claimed that the Muslims were under threat as new laws were being passed that would put Muslims in jails without doing any crime. Gandhi, in his reply, claimed that the way Muslims were feeling was the same as what other communities including Sikhs, Dalits and other minorities feel in India. He insinuated that Sikhs were facing atrocities in India.
He said, “It [so-called atrocities] is felt most strongly by the Muslim Community because it is done most directly to them. But it is being done to all minorities. I can guarantee you that the same way you are feeling attacked, my Sikh brother, my Christian brothers, the Dalit community and the tribal communities feeling the same thing.”
Interestingly, this is not the first time Gandhi has pushed the Khalistani agenda on an international forum. In March 2023, Gandhi was in the US where he was speaking at the University of Cambridge. He randomly called out a Sikh man from the audience and claimed that Sikhs have been rendered second-class citizens in India by the Narendra Modi government.
Rahul Gandhi claimed, “He (Narendra Modi) is imposing an idea on India that India cannot absorb. India, as I said, is a Union of states. It’s a negotiation and if you try to force one idea on a union, it will react.” Despite being well aware that the global Khalistan movement has been trying to brainwash the Sikh community, he exploited the opportunity at Cambridge University to present a distorted image of India to the world.
Despite being well aware that the global Khalistan movement has been trying to brainwash the Sikh community, he exploited the opportunity at Cambridge University to present a distorted image of India to the world.
Khalistanis claim ‘atrocities’ against them to discredit India
It has been seen on several occasions that Khalistani organisations and pro-Khalistani elements claim that the Government of India indulge in atrocities against them in the country. For example, the banned terrorist organisation Sikhs For Justice has said in almost every video that the Central government in Delhi has indulged in atrocities against Sikhs in India. These elements have used this trope to discredit India and gain sympathy from unaware people at the International forum so that they can propagate their separatist agenda to form Khalistan.