Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday discovered a microcosm of “Hindustan” in Poonch as he reached out to the victims of Pakistani shelling, cutting across faiths, and sent a message of unity in an apparent snub to the Right-wing propaganda that had sought to communalise their tragedy.

Poonch had borne the brunt of Pakistan’s relentless artillery firing, leaving eight Muslims, four Sikhs, and a Hindu boy dead in the district.

The residents have alleged a concerted attempt by the Centre, national media and the Right-wing ecosystem to impart a communal hue to their tragedy.

Several Delhi-based TV channels had reported that one of the victims, a madrasa teacher called Qari Iqbal Mohammad, was a terror mastermind from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Foreign secretary Vikram Misri had said Pakistan was targeting gurudwaras, convents and temples, a claim rejected by Jammu Bishop Ivan Pereira and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Narendra Singh, who held that residents were randomly targeted.

Rahul on Saturday visited a temple, a gurudwara, a madrasa and a Christian missionary school to take stock of the ground situation.

“Today, visited temple, gurdwara and madrasa affected by Pakistani attacks in Poonch. Here people of every religion live together and suffer together. This is Poonch — this is Hindustan, where there is harmony, unity and patriotism,” Rahul posted on X after meeting the victims.

“Those who try to divide and break us will never succeed — we will always remain united and respond strongly,” he added.

The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha visited Zia ul Uloom Islamic seminary and offered condolences to the family of Qari Iqbal.

Rahul later interacted with students of the Christian missionary school, which lost three pupils — siblings Urwa Fatima and Zain Ali and Vihaan Bhargav — in separate incidents of shelling. The school was not targeted during the conflict.

“It is a frightening situation, but don’t worry. Situation will come back to normal, your way of responding to the problem is that you should study very hard, play very hard and make a lot of friends in the school,” he told students in a brief address.

Rahul also visited a temple and a gurdwara, where a resident claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had skipped any mention of Poonch and urged the Congress leader to raise their issues at the national level.

The Congress on Saturday used Rahul’s visit to attack Modi, contrasting their responses to the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.

The party said Rahul had visited Kashmir immediately after the Pahalgam carnage to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the families of the victims.

“PM Modi, on the other hand, was clearly absent. He skipped an all-party meeting convened to address the crisis. Instead, he went on to conduct an election rally in Bihar. Later, he was seen mingling with Bollywood stars. While families mourned, Modi’s laughter echoed in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh as he continued his public engagements without addressing the tragedy,” the Congress posted on X.

The party said Rahul had called for a special session of Parliament after Operation Sindoor, urging a serious discussion in the nation’s interest and questioned Modi’s decision to agree to a ceasefire, scrutinised the government’s trust in Pakistan’s promises, and raised concerns about the role of US President Trump in the negotiations.