Gandhi Defends Remarks in Sikhs’ Favor; ‘Khanda Could Have Been Poisoned’

India's Leader of Opposition, Indian National Congress' Rahul Gandhi responded to a Varanasi court case over his remarks in favor of the Sikh community during his September 2024 talk in the US. Speaking at Washington DC, Gandhi had accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of treating some religions, languages, and cultures as 'inferior' to others and expressed concern over the status of religious and linguistic minorities in India. He pointed at a Sikh man in the audience, asked his name and said, 'The fight is about whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India or a kada (bracelet) in India. Or he, as a Sikh, is going to be able to go to Gurdwara. That’s what the fight is about. And not just for him, for all religions.' The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had taken great affront and a person named Nageshwar Mishra had filed the case. Gandhi said he was a true ‘patriot’ and stood by his statement. The use of the word patriot is an interesting juxtaposition against the ‘nationalism’ promoted by Hindutva forces including RSS and BJP. Meanwhile, in the UK, the family of a Sikh activist Avtar Singh Khanda who died suddenly in June 2023 have made new calls for an inquest after a pathologist found the result of the postmortem exam 'does not mean that a poisoning can be completely excluded.' Family lawyer Michael Polak said samples were not tested for 'nerve agents, biological agents, or nuclear agents', which could have brought about an aggressive cancer. In other news, in the US, new documentation has emerged on how Nikhil Gupta—the accused on assassination plot of Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun—recruited a Columbian drug trafficker to carry out the killing. A side note is that Gupta has a son in India as well as in Pakistan, he also had a Pakistan passport. Gupta has denied the Pakistan connection. The story by National Post also says, 'It is unusual for this insider information in an ongoing criminal case to be available publicly' (earlier coverage).