Rahul Gandhi demands martyr status for Pahalgam attack victims, requests PM to "respect sentiments of families affected"

New Delhi [India], May 1 (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded martyr status for the 26 victims of the deadly Pahalgam attack and requested the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "respect the sentiments of the families of those who lost their lives by giving honour to them."
"I stand with the families of those killed in the Pahalgam attack in their grief and in their demand for martyr status. The Prime Minister is requested to respect the sentiments of the families of those who lost their lives in this tragedy by giving this honour to them," the Congress leader wrote in a post on X.

पहलगाम हमले में मारे गए लोगों के परिवारों के दुख में, शहीद के दर्जे की उनकी मांग में, मैं साथ खड़ा हूं।

प्रधानमंत्री से आग्रह है कि वो इस त्रासदी में जान गंवाने वालों को यह सम्मान देकर उनके परिवारों की भावना का आदर करें। pic.twitter.com/auMEehEnOO

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 1, 2025

The Congress leader had posted a clips of his meeting in Kanpur with the family of Shubham Dwivedi, one of the victims of the April 22 attack in Pahalgam.
In the video, the wife of the victim is heard telling Rahul Gandhi, "I don't want anything for myself, but for Shubham I want martyr status for him. Not just for Shubham, for all the 26 people."
Meanwhile the father of the deceased told the Congress leader, "You can give us that, you can talk to the government, can talk to the Prime Minister."
In another clip of a press conference in the national capital, Rahul Gandhi had asked for martyr status for the victims killed in cold blood, saying that maybe this issue is more important than the caste census.
"Today maybe this is even more important than caste census, I went to Kanpur, and talked with the families of the victims of terrorism. Their son was killed in cold blood, without mercy. The Prime Minister has said that the people have been martyred, and we want you give them the martyr status," Gandhi had said in the press conference.
Earlier in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, the father of Shubham Dwivedi, Sanjay Dwivedi had said, "I demand that Shubham should be given the status of 'shaheed'. Rahul Gandhi said that he had written a letter to the PM for a special session in parliament. Priyanka Gandhi talked to me and said that my demands are right. She said - I'll put pressure on the government and talk to them at my level for giving the status of 'shaheed' to Shubham." (ANI)