Mehbooba urges Rahul to raise issue of ‘Muslim victimisation’ in Parliament

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday (July 21, 2025) urged Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to raise the issue of “Muslim victimisation” in the ongoing Parliament session.

Ms. Mufti, in a letter to Mr. Gandhi, highlighted cases emerging from Assam and the ongoing survey in Bihar. “It appears to be another effort to dispossess, disempower, and disenfranchise Muslims,” she said.

Stating that the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor, and other security matters might dominate the Parliament session, she urged the INDIA bloc, especially the Congress, however, “to ensure that the concerns of the Muslim community are not ignored in national discussions”.

She said that Muslims, in the garb of identification of “Bangladeshis” and “Rohingyas”, “were being pushed into desperate situations”. “Some were even forced into the sea in attempts to expel them from India,” Ms. Mufti said, referring to media reports.

She referred to the large-scale demolition of Muslim homes in Assam as “deeply troubling”.

‘Protect Congress’ secular legacy’

Ms. Mufti said Muslims who stayed in India during the Partition did so because they trusted the Congress party’s secular leadership from Mahatma Gandhi to Jawaharlal Nehru. “That legacy now rests with him to protect,” the PDP president said.

Ms. Mufti said when Hindus were targeted in countries such as Pakistan or Bangladesh, the Indian government strongly reacted. “But when Muslims are targeted within India, there is silence driven by fear,” she added.

The PDP president said as a leader from one of the few Muslim-majority regions that chose to join the Indian Union, she felt “helpless at times”. “I place hope in Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and urge him to speak up for a community that is being pushed to the margins of society,” she appealed.