Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti on Monday urged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to raise concerns about the “victimisation, dispossession and disempowerment” of Muslims during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Mufti said that Muslims in India had chosen to remain in the country after Partition because of their faith in the Congress leadership.

“Today, as the bearer of that legacy, the responsibility falls on your shoulders to uphold and defend the secular and democratic values enshrined in our Constitution,” she added.

The Peoples Democratic Party leader said that the ongoing special intensive revision of voter rolls in Bihar appears to be another “systemic effort to dispossess, disempower and ultimately disenfranchise Muslims, effectively erasing their presence”.

As part of the revision of electoral rolls, persons whose names were not on the 2003 voter list will need to submit proof of eligibility to vote. Opposition leaders have alleged that the exercise risks disenfranchising a large number of voters as they may not be able to submit the necessary documents.

Mufti also referred to reports of India having deported refugees by “pushing” them into Bangladeshi waters, saying: “Under the pretext of targeting ‘Bangladeshis’ and ‘Rohingyas’, Muslims are being pushed into increasingly desperate situations. Disturbing media reports have even suggested that some were forced into the sea in attempts to expel them from India.”

The large scale demolition of thousands of Muslim homes in Assam is deeply troubling, Mufti added.

Between 2016 and August 2024, more than 10,620 families – the majority of them Muslim – have been evicted from government land in Assam, according to data provided by the state revenue and disaster management department.

Mufti said that while India rightly condemns the treatment of Hindu minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh, there is “complete silence” when Muslims are targeted in India.

“As a politician from one of the only Muslim-majority regions that chose to join the Indian Union largely due to the vision and secular character of your great-grandfather, I feel extremely helpless at times,” she said. “Placing great hope in your leadership, I urge you to continue speaking up for a minority that is being steadily marginalised and pushed to the fringes of Indian society.”

The Monsoon Session of Parliament began on Monday and will conclude on August 21.