Rahul calls Bittu ‘traitor’, Union minister snaps back with ‘desh ke dushman’ jibe

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi kicked up a firestorm on Wednesday when he called Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu a “traitor”, prompting the BJP to accuse him of insulting the entire Sikh community and demand that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla takes action against him.
Several top BJP leaders came out to attack Gandhi, accusing him of having an “anti-Sikh mentality”, even as some Sikh MPs stood out in support of him.
BJP leaders from Delhi also staged a protest outside Congress’s Akbar road office and raised slogans against Gandhi.
The faceoff happened right outside Parliament’s Makar Dwar. As Bittu was entering the House Wednesday morning, Gandhi called him “a traitor” and the minister retorted with “desh ke dushman” (enemy of the nation) jibe.
Rahul was trying to speak after standing in solidarity with the suspended party MPs, mainly from Punjab, at the main entrance which MPs take to enter the new Parliament building.
Seeing the protesting MPs, Bittu said, “They (suspended Congress MPs) are sitting here as if they have won a war.”
As Bittu was about the climb the stairs, Gandhi said, “The thing is, here is a traitor walking right by. Take a look at the face. How he looks.”
Gandhi then extended his hand towards Bittu for a handshake, and said, “Hello brother, my traitor friend. Don’t worry, you will come back (to the Congress).”
Bittu, however, refused the hand shake and said, “Desh ke dushman,” pointing at Gandhi.
In videos posted by the Congress, the Union minister can be seen springing past the Makar Dwar stairs, repeating his “desh ke dushman” charge while pointing at the Congress leaders and suspended MPs, who continued to jeer at him.
They were also heard saying, “Surrender, surrender”.
Bittu later called Rahul Sonia Gandhi’s “bigda hua beta” (spoilt child), and asked, “Why didn’t he say such a thing to so many other MPs, but only to a Sikh?”
“They (Gandhis) think they are the biggest ‘deshbhakts’ (patriots) as his father (Rajiv Gandhi) had sacrificed his life. I had this fight in the party. My grandfather, Beant Singh, was martyred in Punjab due to the fire (of terrorism) ignited by the Gandhi family,” he said.
“Your hands are soaked in blood of Sikhs killed during anti-Sikh riots,” he said, adding that he did not go to their room either and was entering Parliament.
“This Sardar will never join hands with the scion of the Gandhi family, which is a murderer of Sikhs and demolished gurdwaras,” Bittu said.
Asked if he would rejoin Congress, Bittu retorted, “Return, my foot.”
Bittu said this matter will have to be taken up with the Speaker as he is the custodian.
Four BJP Sikh leaders, including Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, alleged at a press conference that Gandhi’s remarks reflected his mindset and his family’s deep-seated hatred against Sikhs.
The entire Sikh community is “anguished” over the Congress leader’s remarks and it would never forgive him, they said.
Coming out in support of Gandhi, Congress MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said “Once a traitor, always a traitor! Ravneet Bittu betrayed the Congress party which gave him everything.”
Former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi said Rahul Gandhi called Bittu a ‘gaddar dost’ (a traitor friend), as he had given him everything when he was in Congress but quit the party when he was needed most. It is well known that he betrayed the party, he said supporting Gandhi.
Taking serious exception to Gandhi’s word, Puri said, “This word, traitor, cannot be taken lightly. The word is used for someone who has betrayed his country. This is a very sensitive issue for the Sikh community.”
He alleged that Gandhi called Bittu a traitor simply because the latter had quit the Congress.
“Ravneet Singh Bittu is not just an MP or a member of a Sikh family that has served the country, his grandfather — Sardar Beant Singh — who was the chief minister of Punjab, fell to an assassin’s bullet. And you call him a traitor. This is completely unacceptable,” Puri said.
“Just because a person wears a turban and he left your party, you call him a traitor,” he added.
Puri said the Congress leader had crossed all limits of civility, decency and dignity.
Reacting sharply, Delhi minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, “Sikh is the sardar (leader) of Bharat and it is Rahul Gandhi’s family that has betrayed the country. Sikh sardar, Rahul Gandhi gaddar (traitor).”
He claimed “real traitor” was the Gandhi family that desecrated the Golden Temple in Amritsar and burnt Sikhs alive.
The Gandhi family has for generations treated Sikhs as its enemies and harboured “hatred” against the community, he alleged, adding that “I condemn his (Rahul Gandhi’s) remarks in strongest words.”
In an apparent reference to Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Sirsa said Sikhs were betrayed when their “scared places” were attacked and the members of the community “burnt alive” during the Congress rule.
Bittu is the grandson of late Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, who was assassinated in 1995. A three-time MP, Bittu is serving as Union Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing Industries. He switched to the BJP from the Congress ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.