Rahul Gandhi’s “traitor” remark against Congress turncoat Ravneet Singh Bittu, now a Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP and Union minister, is weighing heavily on the political discourse during the ongoing Parliament session. Several Sikh leaders within the BJP have flagged the comment as the dislike of the Congress for the community, pointing out the 1984 desecration of golden temple. As the BJP ups the ante, a larger question emerges: is the saffron camp politically harvesting the controversy a year ahead of the Punjab assembly elections?
At the same time, the saffron camp leaders have rained down upon the Congress and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi by bringing Bittu into the limelight. "There are only a few popular Sikh leaders that the BJP has in Punjab, and Bittu comes in one of those few top leaders," a political analyst says, "which also signals that they are preparing a ground for the upcoming Punjab assembly elections in the state where Bittu may be given bigger responsibilities."
During the brief face-off, Bittu refused to shake hands with Rahul Gandhi, who had outstretched his hand while making the remark. The moment also underlined the depth of Bittu’s rupture with the Congress, a party that had once nurtured his ascension, with Gandhi himself playing a key role in bringing him into active politics.
Ravneet Singh Bittu was a three-time Congress Lok Sabha MP, once from Anandpur Sahib between 2009 and 2014, and twice from Ludhiana from 2014 to 2024. During his long stint in the party, he held several key organisational and parliamentary roles, including president of the Punjab Youth Congress at the age of 33 and later serving as the Congress whip in the Lok Sabha in 2020. Ahead of the 2024 general elections, Bittu crossed over to the BJP.
His defection came to the spotlight after the Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi referred to him as a “traitor” within the parliamentary premises, though outside the House, triggering a political controversy. The BJP accused Gandhi of disrespecting the Sikh community, while Congress leaders rallied to his defence, insisting that the remark was directed at Bittu personally for switching parties, and not at Sikhs as a community.
Several prominent Sikh leaders in the BJP have come out strongly against Rahul Gandhi over his remarks. Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said calling a “distinguished Sikh” a traitor without any basis amounted to a slur on the entire Sikh community. He further added that the country should not forget the “desecration of the Golden Temple in 1984,” suggesting that the same mindset was at play.
Delhi minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa also demanded that the Lok Sabha Speaker take action against Gandhi. Attacking the Gandhi family, Sirsa said, “The Gandhi family is the traitor for the way they bombed the Golden Temple and the way Sikhs were killed by wrapping tyres around their necks. The anti-Sikh mentality of the Congress, as displayed in 1984, is intact.”
Bittu's background has been political. He is the grandson of Beant Singh, a Congress stalwart who was assassinated in a bomb attack by Khalistani militants in 1995 when he was the chief minister of Punjab. Bittu’s family legacy is interwoven with that of the Congress and Gandhis; his cousin Gurkirat Singh Kotli and uncle Tej Parkash Singh, both former ministers, are still in the Congress.
