'Can't generalise': Puri reacts to Mehbooba Mufti's ‘Sardars are now Khalistani’ remark

Jun 13,2022

'Can't generalise': Puri reacts to Mehbooba Mufti's ‘Sardars are now Khalistani’ remark

Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said no Sikh should be called “anti-national” or “Khalistani” after the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, accused the Central government of labelling those opposed to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

On Tuesday, the chief of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said that the government has no vision for Jammu and Kashmir and they are using the region as a “laboratory”. She said that leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee had a vision of Jammu and Kashmir but the current dispensation only creates a divide between Hindus and Muslims, adding that Sikhs are now labelled as Khalistani.

“No Sardar (Sikh) should be called anti-national or Khalistani. You can't generalise on the basis of some misguided people,” Union minister for housing and urban affairs told news agency ANI.

Puri was in Kolkata for a door-to-door campaign in support of BJP’s candidate Priyanka Tibrewal who is contesting from the Bhabanipur assembly constituency against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The Union minister visited the ancestral home of Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee as well as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

After campaigning in the high-profile constituency for by-poll, Puri tweeted, "In my conversations with residents of Ram Mohan Dutta Road in the Ray Street area of Bhabanipur, shared their issues & concerns. But there is clear support for the BJP candidate Smt. Priyanka Tibrewal."