From ‘Hindutva policies led to attack’ to ‘clean chit to Pakistan’ to ‘no religious profiling’, shocking reactions of Congress leaders and sympathisers to Pahalgam attack
In Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, 26 innocent Hindu tourists, were brutally killed by the Islamic terrorists belonging to The Resistance Force, a Pakistani terror outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba’s offshoot. As seen in the testimonies of the survivors, the Pakistan-sponsored jihadis targeted Hindu tourists based on their religious identity, checked their IDs, demanded recitation of Kalma, and even coerced male tourists to take off their pants to check for circumcision to ensure only Kafirs are killed by them.
Yet, several Congress and opposition leaders have unleashed a rhetoric that essentially downplays the anti-Hindu nature of the attack. Out of nowhere, even in an act of violence against Hindus perpetrated by Islamic terrorists, these Muslim-appeasing political leaders have managed to paint Muslims as victims. Apparently, for Indian ‘secularists’, terrorism has no religion, but ‘fear’ among Muslim minorities skyrockets dramatically when people criticise Islamic terrorists for killing Hindus for being Hindus.
OpIndia has brought to its readers a compilation of all statements given by political leaders, which essentially deflect the anti-Hindu nature of the Pahalgam terror attack.
Congress leader Saifuddin Soz advocates for blindly accepting Pakistan’s denial of role in the Pahalgam attack
Former union minister and Congress leader Saifuddin Soz, on 28th April, said that if Pakistan denies its role in the Pahalgam terror attack, India should take its word. In his misplaced outpouring of sympathy, Soz went as far as to oppose the Indian government’s decision to put Pakistan’s “lifeline”, the Indus Water Treaty, in abeyance.
“For Pakistan the water is very important for irrigation and drinking purposes. If the river water cannot be diverted, the states of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir will be totally submerged. The Indus Water Treaty has survived the wars between India and Pakistan. This water treaty is a lifeline for Pakistan. If Pakistan takes a stand that they are not involved in the Pahalgam attack, then we should accept Pakistan’s word,” Soz said.
Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar casts aspersions on the religious profiling of Hindu tourists
Maharashtra Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar also attempted to downplay the angle of ‘religious profiling’ and attempted to shift the blame of the terror attack elsewhere. “The government is saying that terrorists killed people after asking them (about their religion). Do terrorists have time for all this?” he cast aspersions on the victims’ testimonials.
“Some people say that this did not happen. Terrorists have no caste or religion. Catch those who are responsible and take action. This is the sentiment of the country,” Vijay Wadettiwar further mouthed platitudes to protect his vote bank.
Mani Shankar Aiyar gives clean chit to Pakistan, says these are ‘unresolved issues of partition’
Veteran Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has pretty much given a clean chit to Pakistan for the attack. The Congress leader said that unresolved issues of partition are the reason for the terrorist attack.
Aiyar said, “Many people almost prevented partition, but it happened because there were differences in value systems and assessments of the nature of India’s nationhood and its civilisational inheritance between people like Gandhi and Pandit Nehru… and Jinnah and many other Muslims who did not agree with Jinnah. But the fact is, that Partition happened and till today, we are living with the consequences of that partition.”
‘Terrorists would not have asked religion’: Karnataka Congress minister R B Thimmapur
On Saturday (26th April), Karnataka Congress Minister R B Thimmapur courted controversy after he attempted to downplay the religious profiling of Hindu victims by Islamic terrorists during the Pahalgam terror attack. R B Thimmapur, who serves as the Excise Minister in the Congress-ruled State, alleged, “The perpetrators of the attack in Pahalgam would not have asked the name and the religion of victims.”
“I personally don’t think the assailants would have asked the name and religion of the tourists…It is just to add religious colour to cover up intelligence failure,” he brazened out. R B Thimmapur said this while interacting with the media in Bagalkot in Karnataka.
There undoubtedly has been a security lapse, but that does not negate the religious nature of the terror attack. Congress leader giving his ‘personal opinion’ discrediting the accounts of survivors, shows his desperation to use even a heinous crime against Hindus to appease the Muslim votebank.
Karnataka Congress leader M Lakshmana accuses Modi government of ‘politicising’, claims Muslims were also killed
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee leader M Lakshmana on 25th April, accused the Central government and the BJP of politicising the Pahalgam terror attack. Akin to the narrative being peddled by his fellow party leaders, Lakshmana claimed that the Central government is approaching the Pahalgam attack on religious lines.
He went on to claim that Muslims were also killed in the attack, insinuating that it was a ‘secular’ terror attack. While a Muslim man, Syed Hussain Shah, was also killed by the terrorists while trying to save tourists, he was collateral damage and was not confronted by the Jihadis the way Hindu tourists were.
Robert Vadra justifies the terror attack in Pahalgam, said ‘Hindutva policies’ made Muslims uncomfortable
Robert Vadra, a businessman and husband of Congress MP Priyanka Vadra, courted a controversy after he tried to rationalise the terror attack in Pahalgam, stating that it was the Hindutva policies of the current government that drove a wedge between the Hindus and Muslims and ultimately led to the attack.
“I feel terrible and my deepest condolences are for the people who have died in this terrorist act…In our country, we see that this government will talk about Hindutva, and the minorities feel uncomfortable and troubled…If you dissect this terrorist act that took place, if they (terrorists) are looking at people’s identity, why are they doing this? Because there’s a divide that has come about in our country with Hindus and Muslims…This will make these kinds of organisations feel that Hindus are causing a problem for all the Muslims,” Vadra said.
“Looking at identities and then killing somebody, that’s a message to the PM, because Muslims are feeling weakened. The minorities are feeling weakened…This has to be coming from the top that we feel secure and secular in our country, and we will not see this kind of act happening,” he added.
Jammu and Kashmir Congress leader Tariq Ahmed Karra bats for talks with Pakistan
Another Congress leader who went soft on Pakistan despite the hostile neighbour not only sponsoring cross-border Islamic terrorism but also repeatedly issuing nuclear threats against India, is JPCC leader Tariq Ahmed Karra. The Congress leader sympathised with Pakista,n saying that India should avoid a water war with Pakistan and initiate talks to resolve the dispute. He said that India and Pakistan “should keep their cool”.
Karnataka CM Siddaramiah says ‘there’s no need for war’, Pakistani media uses his statement to attack Indian government
After the Pahalgam attack, when journalists asked Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah how tough a stand India should take against Pakistan, he said, “There is no need for war with Pakistan. We are not in favour of war. We should take strict steps and strengthen our security.”
Predictably, Siddaramiah’s video statement went viral on Pakistani social media and was widely used by Pakistani media with claims that voices are being raised within India against the government of India. Although Siddaramiah issued a clarification amidst backlash, however, the damage was irrevocably done.
Congress issues warning to its leaders amidst outrage over toeing Pakistan’s narrative
While Congress is facing the blunt end of public ire, the party’s top leadership, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, are reportedly upset with their own leaders for their outrageous remarks on the Pahalgam terror attack. The party leadership is reported to have told its leaders to toe the party line. The Congress earlier stated that it stands with the Indian government in whatever action it decides to take against Pakistan.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh, who has become habituated to publishing X posts and statements with ‘xyz leader’s statement does not reflect Congress’s views’, issued a clarification (read damage control) saying that statements made by individual leaders did not reflect the Congress party’s position.
Leaders from other parties joined Congress leaders in parroting Pakistan’s narrative
On 26th April, the Trinamool Congress leader Marjina Khatun attempted to shield the Islamic terrorists by shifting the blame on the BJP. While speaking to the media in West Bengal’s Malda, she alleged, “BJP carried out this attack to divert the public from the new Waqf law. BJP provides safe haven to terrorists. This was why there was no army personnel there”
“The elections in Bihar are near. This is why the BJP is trying to create a communal environment,” Khatun resorted to peddling conspiracy theories to defend the Islamic terrorists. Marjina Khatun is the district council member and block President of the Trinamool Congress.
Notably, OpIndia had previously reported how the locals did not notify the security agencies, and the administration allowed tourist movement in the Baisaran area.
Sujata Deo, the Rajya Sabha MP belonging to the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), whitewashed Islamic terror, saying that terrorists had no time to ask the religion of tourists before killing them, as if they coordinated with her about how they plan to go about killing Hindu tourists. As if discrediting the testimonies of the survivors of the Pahalgam attack, the BJD leader went on to claim that terrorism is never about religion.
“The number of people that died and the time it took to kill them, it is not at all possible to ask about religion or check religion in that time. This is all speculation. No terrorist ever asks for anyone’s religion. Terrorists are never connected to religion,” she said.
Diluting the anti-Hindu nature of the Pahalgam terror attack: Opposition playing with fire for political opportunism
It is pertinent to understand why calling the Pahalgam terror attack an act of Islamic terrorism is paramount. It is not that people are mindlessly blaming all Muslims; it is also not that non-Muslims, particularly Hindus, are somehow conspiring to slander the Muslim community. The fact is, the terrorism unleashed in Pahalgam on 22nd April 2025, was essentially rooted in the Islamist hatred for non-Muslims, especially the worst of the Kafirs—Hindus.
While India-Pakistan animosity is not devoid of geopolitical issues, the core problem is religious differences. India was partitioned on Islamic lines. Even after over seven decades of partition, the Pakistani Army chief Asim Munir finds the religious differences between Hindus and Muslims as a defining feature of India’s partition and Pakistan’s creation. Pakistani establishment’s hatred for India is rooted in their hatred for Hindus, along with hatred for other non-Muslim communities as well.
All the Pakistani terror outfits are armed jihadist groups driven by the Islamic theology of establishing Islamic supremacy over non-Muslims and their nations. Every terror attack, be it the Pahalgam, Pulwama, Pathankot, or 26/11 Mumbai attacks wherein Pakistani jihadi Ajmal Kasab wore a Kalava to peddle the ‘Hindu terror’ bogey, these attacks were not just attacks on India, the Islamic terrorists are not driven by regional or national hatred, their fuel, their sole motivation is hatred against Kafirs and their Dar-ul-harb. If this discussion comes across as hateful to you, then understand that the source of ‘hate’ lies in the ideology of the Islamic terrorists. Thus, it is essential to say that terrorism has a religion when religiosity is involved, when jihadis shoot down over a dozen Hindu tourists, a Christian for failing to recite Kalma, for not being a Muslim, for simply existing, then it is Islamic terrorism. Terrorism cannot be ended until we, as a nation, as a civilisation, acknowledge the source of hatred that drives Jihadis to kill non-Muslims for not being Muslims, as well as killing Muslims for not being Muslim enough.
By downplaying the anti-Hindu nature of the Islamic terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Congress leaders or other political parties are not only mocking the victims of the attacks, discrediting victim testimonials, but also secularising Islamic terrorism and being useful idiots for Pakistan. The survivors of the Pahalgam attack have confirmed that the Pakistan-backed Jihadis asked them to recite Kalma, checked for circumcision since Muslim men undergo circumcision, Hindus don’t, and shot them dead only after confirming their Hindu or non-Muslim identity.
Saying that Pahalgam attack, based on religious profiling, happened because Indian Muslims feel weakened because of Hindutva, as said by Robert Vadra, amounts to blaming Hindus for getting killed by Islamic terrorists. It also presents the entire incident as, Pakistan-backed Islamic terrorists were forced to carry out killings of Hindus because Indian Muslims were feeling weakened and terrified due to Hindutva. His rhetoric inverts cause and effect. Pahalgam attack was a jihadist attack orchestrated by a Pakistan-backed terror group with a clear anti-Hindu agenda. Vadra’s statement is literally legitimising terrorism by suggesting that violence against Hindus is a justified and rational response to the imaginary grievances of the Muslim community.
A Christian victim, Sushil Nathaniel, who was shot dead by Jihadis, was asked if he knew about Palestine, when the former said that he did not know Kalma since he is a Christian. If this is not Islamic religious terrorism, what is? Robert Vadra should elaborate on how many Muslims Sushil Nathaniel was oppressing in India that Pakistani terrorists had to come and kill him. This contention that calling the Pahalgam attack an anti-Hindu, anti-Kafir attack would terrify the entire Muslim community is wrong, although it should trigger introspection.
While criticising the government is not wrong, however, deflecting responsibility from the perpetrators and their religious-ideological drivers, and instead blaming India’s religious-political dynamics and government, shows that even the massacre of Hindus is just a political issue to target the government in power.
While politicians have their own agenda behind shielding Islamic terrorism, whitewashing Jihad against Kafirs and prioritising political opportunism over national interest, it is high time for Hindus and all non-Muslim communities to understand, terrorism is not a Kashmir specific problem, 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Sri Lanka Easter bombing, and many more, terror has always had one religion, and it kills those who do not follow that religion. No mollycoddling, no appeasement, no amount of pandering to Islamists, can change the Jihadist imperative to wage war on Kafirs, sanctioned by the religious beliefs of Islamic terrorists. By diluting the religious angle in the Pahalgam attack, ‘secular’ politicians are weakening the fight against Pakistan-backed Islamist terror and undermining national unity. Suppressing the uncomfortable truth out of fear of backlash, offending Indian Muslims or for any reason, only perpetuates division within the country while also emboldening the Islamic terrorists.
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