A Facebook post by Raju P Nair, the General Secretary of the Ernakulam District Congress Committee in Kerala, has sparked widespread controversy and strong public backlash. His remarks come in the wake of the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, where eyewitnesses reported that the Islamic terrorists asked the victims about their religion, forced them to recite the Kalima, and even stripped them of their clothes before carrying out the killings.
In the aftermath, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) had instructed party leaders to refrain from making public statements, particularly in light of immature pro-Pakistan comments by certain individuals that drew criticism. However, disregarding this directive, Raju P Nair took to Facebook to launch a fresh round of criticism.
In his post, Nair alleged that “Hindutva communalists are implementing Pakistan’s agenda in India.” What appears to have provoked his reaction is a protest held by Hindus in front of the Pakistan High Commission in London, condemning the Pahalgam attack. Commenting on the placards displayed at the demonstration, he wrote, “the placards held by protesters in front of the Pakistan High Commission office in London against the Pahalgam attack should not have said ‘I am Hindu’ but ‘I am Indian’.”
He went on to draw a comparison between RSS and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned Islamic terrorist outfit, asking “how are these Hindutva extremists different in mentality from the terrorists who carried out the Pahalgam attack?” He further alleged that “the RSS is the Indian Lashkar-e-Taiba and both are two faces of the same ideology.”
The post has triggered a wave of protests and condemnation from various quarters. The Congress party, already on the defensive over recent controversial statements, including those by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and other senior leaders, has been forced to distance itself from Nair’s remarks, particularly in the face of mounting criticism of congress’s social media platforms mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
