Senior Congress leader and former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday defended Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s recent ‘Sikh’ remarks in the US and said the BJP should stop playing with the sentiments of the minority community.

Gandhi, during his recent visit to the US, stoked a controversy after he said the fight in India is about whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban or go to a Gurdwara, in a veiled attack on the ruling BJP, which he has been accusing of doing “divisive” politics.

Notably, the BJP slammed Gandhi for his remarks and accused him of setting a ”dangerous narrative”

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, the former chief minister said, “We are with whatever Rahul Gandhi had said. The BJP should stop playing with the sentiments of Sikhs. BJP is trying to defame Rahul Gandhi by repeatedly speaking against him. This is not good for India’s democratic system.”

In an apparent reference to the Gandhi scion’s address to the Indian diaspora in Washington DC, Channi said, “Rahul Gandhi had expressed concern that the way SC, ST, OBC and minorities are being treated in the country, the same might happen to Sikhs too.”

“Rahul Gandhi spoke in favour of Sikhs, we appreciate him. The BJP is pained by the fact that Rahul Gandhi spoke in favour of Sikhs. That’s why the party is distorting his words,” he added.

Echoing similar sentiments, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa said, “Rahul Gandhi said that the ideology of our party is to protect the constitutional rights of the people. He said that the situation in the country is such that attempts are being made to divide the people. But, it has become a habit of the BJP to misinterpret everything.”

“There was truth in whatever Rahul Gandhi ji said in America. The farmers of our country do not belong to any one religion. When the farmers agitation took place, farmers from many states including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh were involved in it. But the Prime Minister of our country did not even take out 10 minutes to listen to the farmers,” he said.