'Those Refugees Who Came From PoK...Sorry...Kashmiri Pandits': Rahul Gandhi's Slip Of Tongue Draws BJP Ire

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had a slip of tongue during his speech at a rally in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday (September 25), where polling for the second phase of the assembly elections is ongoing. Meaning “Kashmiri Pandits”, he instead said “refugees from PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir)” and, realising his mistake, quickly corrected himself.

Gandhi said the promise made by former prime minister Manmohan Singh to the refugees who have come from PoK will be fulfilled. He then said “sorry” and changed it to the “promise made to Kashmiri Pandits”. “Those refugees who came from PoK, the promises made to them by Manmohan Singh ji will be fulfilled… Sorry… Kashmiri Pandits…promises made to Kashmiri Pandits will be fulfilled,” he said at the public gathering.

But, this did not go unnoticed and gave plenty of ammo to the ruling BJP. Party leader from Andhra Pradesh, Vishnu Vardhan Reddy took a jibe at the Congress MP and said “no matter how hard you try to hide the truth, it eventually comes out”.

“No matter how hard you try to hide the truth, it eventually comes out! Kudos to Rahul Gandhi for speaking the actual truth, even though by mistake..” he said in a post on X with a video of Gandhi’s speech.

In another post, Reddy said: “So basically, Rahul Gandhi is saying in Jammu that ‘the Indian govt is an outsider for the people of J&K, so it’s an injustice for them’. But same Congress & their allies always advocate for talks with Pakistan regarding Kashmir. So, for him, the Indian govt is an outsider, but Pakistan is not.”

Gandhi addressed two rallies in J&K – one in Jammu and the other at Sopore. In both the public gatherings, he spoke extensively on restoring statehood to the union territory.

“In the history of India, after 1947, several UTs were turned into states. States were divided – Telangana was formed out of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand was formed out of Bihar, Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh. But, for the first time after independence, a state was turned into a UT. This was done to Jammu and Kashmir. This is an injustice to you. Your democratic rights have been snatched away from you,” he said at the rally in Jammu.

He added: “Today J&K, is not run by the people of J&K, it is run by the people of other states. We had thought that you would get back the statehood before elections. That would have been the correct way…But it is fine that they are conducting elections first. But we want your democratic rights, the statehood of J&K is given back to you.”

He repeated himself in Sopore, saying J&K needs to get its statehood back, and that will happen when the INDIA bloc government is formed. Slamming the BJP, he said the party has an ideology of hatred and has spread it in the entire country.

“We wanted that the statehood be restored before elections. All the people of Jammu and Kashmir wanted the elections should take place after the restoration of the statehood… It did not happen, the first step is election. But after this, the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir has to be restored. INDIA alliance will pressurise PM Modi in the Parliament for this. If they don’t do this, then we will restore your statehood as soon as the INDIA alliance forms the government at the Centre…” he added.