On April 22, 2025, India was shaken by the horrors of the anti-Hindu Islamist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir. In the serene Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, terrorists from The Resistance Front (TRF), a Lashkar-e-Taiba proxy, opened fire on innocent tourists after verifying their religion. In a cold-blooded act of Islamist extremism, the attackers reportedly checked for circumcision and demanded victims recite Islamic verses. Those who failed the test were shot dead. The attack left 27 people dead, including 24 Indian tourists, two locals, and two foreigners from Nepal and the UAE. More than 20 were injured. It was an unambiguous act of religiously motivated terrorism. While the nation mourned and demanded justice, Robert Vadra, businessman and husband of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, chose a disgraceful route rationalising the attack. In a statement to ANI, Robert
Robert Vadra pinned the blame not on the terrorists, but on what he termed the “Hindutva policies” of the current government. According to him, it was this ideological divide that made Muslims “feel weakened,” ultimately triggering such violence. Let’s be clear: this line of thinking is not only flawed, it is dangerous. Vadra’s remarks are a slap in the face to the victims and a boon to the perpetrators. Instead of unequivocally condemning those who pulled the trigger, he chose to offer them an excuse a justification rooted in the domestic political narrative of victimhood. By claiming the terrorists were “sending a message to the Prime Minister,” Vadra effectively transferred the blame from the butchers to the elected government of India. That is nothing short of disgraceful.
This isn’t merely political opportunism it is a direct insult to national security and the intelligence community that works tirelessly to keep such threats at bay. Blaming the Indian state for an act executed by foreign-backed Islamic terrorists is the exact narrative Pakistan and its proxies would love to promote on the global stage.
