Overview
- In a circulated interview clip, Hamid Ansari is heard saying figures like Mahmud of Ghazni and the Lodis were "Hindustani looters" rather than foreign invaders.
- BJP spokespersons Shehzad Poonawalla and CR Kesavan posted the video on X and accused the Congress ecosystem of whitewashing atrocities and eulogising those who targeted Hindus.
- Kesavan cited accounts of Mahmud of Ghazni’s 11th-century raids, referencing attacks on Somnath and Mathura, and asked whether Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi agrees with Ansari’s view.
- Other BJP figures, including Sudhanshu Trivedi and Pradeep Bhandari, escalated the criticism with broader allegations that Congress romanticises invaders and glorifies anti-Hindu tyrants.
- News reports noted historical context that Ghazni ruled from present-day Afghanistan and led multiple incursions into the subcontinent, and that the Lodi dynasty is recorded as of Afghan origin, while no formal rebuttal from Congress leadership had been reported.