Chicago – August 03, 2025
In a heated session on July 29, 2025, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra read aloud the names of 25 Indian victims killed in the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack to underscore their shared national identity and demand accountability . As she began, treasury bench MPs repeatedly shouted “Hindu,” prompting Priyanka to crisply counter, “Bharatiya”—asserting that the victims were Indians first, not defined by religious labels .
The verbal sparring escalated into a shouting match in the House, with both sides reiterating “Hindu” and “Bharatiya” as she continued listing the victims .
Priyanka Gandhi sharply criticized the government’s failure to secure basic safety for tourists at the Baisaran meadows, quoting the widow of one victim who recalled seeing no security presence during the attack: “When citizens were being killed one by one for an hour, there wasn’t a single security guard” . She questioned the accountability of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and the NIA regarding the lapse in protection
This moment occurred during the two‑day parliamentary debate over Operation Sindoor, where the Congress sought answers to the security failures that led to the deadly attack.
