Congress Won’t Hide If Hands Tainted With Muslims’ Blood: Khurshid

Salman Khurshid made the statement while addressing students at the Aligarh Muslim University.

Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid. 

(Photo: PTI)

Speaking at an event at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Congress senior leader Salman Khurshid said that if the party has blood on its hands, then it will show these stains so that others can learn from its mistakes.

Soon after, the former External Affairs Minister took to Twitter to express his anguish on being ‘misinterpreted’ by the media.

Khurshid’s initial statement had come in response to a question raised by a former student of the university, who asked the senior Congress leader what would he say about his party’s involvement in various riots that happened in Uttar Pradesh during its regime. The student implied that the party had blood of the minority community on its hands.

To this, Khurshid replied,

This is a political question... if you say we have blood on our hands, then we will show these marks to everyone so that they can learn from our mistakes and not commit the same mistakes.

He further said that the students should learn from the Congress’ history and work towards creating an environment where people can raise tough questions.

I Will Continue to Say What I Said: Khurshid

The statement was blown out of proportion by various media houses, after which Khurshid issued another clarification, saying that his response was meant to defend the Congress.

“It was someone who accused us and if someone accuses us, must I not reply?” he asked. Standing by his position, Khurshid added, “What I said I will continue to say, I made the statement as a human being.”

Is This an Admission of Guilt?

After Khurshid’s comments, a few media houses reported the statement as an admission of guilt.

News18 wrote, “Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid says blood of many Muslims on Congress’ hands.”

Zee News went a step further. The TV news channel said that Khurshid’s statement has sparked a controversy after he admitted that his party is stained with the blood of Muslims.

However, from the video of the event, it seems that Khurshid’s reply was an attempt to show the Congress’ high moral ground over other parties.

Congress Distances from Khurshid, BJP Slams Party

Following the coverage, Congress distanced itself from Khurshid’s statement. Congress MP PL Punia said that the party disagrees with Khurshid’s statement “in toto.”

Everyone must know that both prior and post-independence, Congress is the only party which has worked towards building an egalitarian society by carrying all sections of people together as also religious and ethnic minorities.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that Khurshid’s statement had revealed the truth behind Gandhi’s ‘Save the Constitution’ campaign.

Salman Khurshid has revealed the truth behind Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Save the Constitution’ campaign. He has admitted that Congress’ hand is stained with blood.

Patra further alleged that the opposition party was stained with not only the blood of Muslims but also that of the Sikhs who were killed in the 1984 riots.

(The Quint is now on WhatsApp. To receive handpicked stories on topics you care about, subscribe to our WhatsApp services. Just go to TheQuint.com/WhatsApp and hit send.)