New Delhi: Businessman Robert Vadra, the husband of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, Wednesday stirred controversy by saying that the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack sent a message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by enquiring about the religious identities of the people they shot.
“Looking at identities and then killing somebody, that’s a message, also sending a message to the PM of our country. Why? Because Muslims are feeling weakened. The minorities are feeling weakened,” Vadra told ANI, inviting sharp reactions from the BJP which accused the Congress of harbouring “anti-Hindu sentiments”.
Vadra, who was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case earlier this month, said that “communal disharmony” in India “make these kinds of organisations feel that Hindus are making a problem for all the Muslims”.
“If you dissect this terrorist act that took place, if they are looking at people’s identity, why are they looking at people’s identity? Because there’s a divide that has come about in our country with Hindus and Muslims and also christians. On Easter, I saw video footage of churches being burnt, priests being troubled,” said Vadra.
Emphasising that he was speaking for himself and “not the family or the Congress party”, Vadra, who has publicly expressed his wish to enter politics, said the Hindutva pitch make minorities feel uncomfortable and they feel “troubled when you have a survey on mosques or when you tell people you cannot pray in this way or that way.”
Vadra said that while he believes that “terrorism does not really see religion”, in the Pahalgam incident, the way the terrorists “filtered people and killed was very clear”.
“So I feel that being secular in the country is the key to progress and unity. Religion and politics should be separate. This has to be coming from the top that we feel secure, we feel secular in our country and we will not see this kind of acts happening is what I truly feel,” Vadra said.
Responding to Vadra’s remarks, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey attacked the Congress and the Gandhi family, saying “even in this hour of grief, the Gandhi family sees Muslims”.
“This mentality of the Congress has germinated the seeds of hatred in the country. India is united from Kashmir to Kanyakumari because of Sanatan Dharma. India is strong and successful under the leadership of the Prime Minister and will remain so,” Dubey posted on X.
“Terrorists and their patrons will be killed. Enemies sitting outside India and enemies within the country inciting Muslims will be destroyed.”
दुख की इस घड़ी में भी गांधी परिवार को मुसलमान दिखता है,कॉग्रेस के इसी मानसिकता ने आज देश में नफ़रत का पौधा अंकुरित कर दिया है ।भारत सनातन धर्म के कारण ही कश्मीर से कन्याकुमारी तक एक है।भारत माननीय प्रधानमंत्री जी के नेतृत्व में मज़बूत व कामयाब है और होगा ही,आतंकवादी व उनके… https://t.co/JxsvQ1d3EA
— Dr Nishikant Dubey (@nishikant_dubey) April 23, 2025
Referring to Vadra’s remarks, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, and every member of Congress should “hang their heads in shame” for “trying to shield terrorists”.
“India has lost 28 of its brothers and sisters in a brutal terrorist act and it is clear to the entire nation mourning their murder that these divisive words may have been spoken by you but the poisonous, anti-India, anti-Hindu thinking behind them is that of leader Rahul Gandhi,” Bhatia said on X.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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