The Kashmiri Sikh community has expressed anguish over the insulting remarks targeted at the minority community by a Bhartiya Janta Party leader from north Kashmir. The claim, however, has been denied by the BJP leader.
Pertinently, a video of the BJP leader, Manzoor Ahmed Bhat, whose Twitter bio says that he is the Head of the Media & Information Technology Department for BJP JK, has gone viral on social media in which the leader has made objectionable remarks against the Sikh community. “How can Farooq Abdullah speak, he brought home a Sikh woman and gave his daughter to a Sikh man,” the BJP leader is heard saying in the video.
Angad Singh Khalsa, a Kashmiri Sikh activist spoke to the media over the issue and said that such shameful remarks against the Sikh community were shameful and regrettable. “How can one use such derogatory remarks against the Sikh community? Are we (Sikhs) not allowed to speak or are we so inferior that our affiliation with someone stops people from talking about Kashmir?” Angad asked.
He said that the BJP leader needs to update his knowledge bank with facts as the people he is referring to, are both Hindus. (Payal, who recently divorced Omar Abdullah and Sachin Pilot to whom Farooq Abdullah’s daughter is married).
“Though we are a peaceful community and would not like any sort of derogatory remarks against any religion, if the party has guts, they must name the religious identity of the duo they are referring to. Then, we would like to see the consequences they face,” he said.
Pertinently, the Sikh community has not faced derogatory remarks for the first time. In the recent past, a small chunk of social media users in Kashmir has used derogatory words for the community, however, a significant number of Kashmiri social media users have spoken against these remarks.
Giving out a message of unity, these Kashmiri social media users would remind netizens of how in Punjab, Kashmiri students were sheltered by Sikhs in Gurduwaras and their houses when the former was facing attacks from Hindutva gangs across north India in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.
Meanwhile, Angad said that if the leader does not apologize Kashmiris Sikhs will lodge a formal FIR against him for hurting the sentiments of the minority community.
Meanwhile, Manzoor Ahmed Bhat has denounced the charges and said that he has not hurt the religious sentiments of the community. “Most of my friends are Sikhs and I love them dearly. They have always stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Muslims. I do not think I have hurt their religious sentiments in any way,” Manzoor told the media.