&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "‘10% of India controls Army’: Rahul Gandhi’s caste remark in Bihar kicks up new storm")
Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, kicked up a new controversy on Tuesday by saying that the Army is ‘under the control of 10 per cent of the country’s population,’ while referring obliquely to the so-called upper castes. Campaigning in Aurangabad, ahead of the first phase voting of Bihar Assembly elections on Thursday, he said, “Only 10 per cent of the country’s population (i.e., the ‘upper castes’) get opportunities in corporate sectors, bureaucracy, and the judiciary... even the Army is under their control.” “The remaining 90 per cent—backward classes, Dalits, scheduled tribes, and other minorities—are nowhere to be seen,” he said, reiterating his political stance on social justice and equal opportunities and demand for a national caste census.
“If 90 per cent people don’t have participatory rights, the Constitution can’t be protected,” he has said.
However, this is for the first time Rahul Gandhi has mentioned the military in this context, though it is not the first time he has made eyebrow-raising comments about the Army.
In August, the Supreme Court had reprimanded the Congress leader over his comment—“Chinese troops are thrashing Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh”—made during his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.
Rahul’s comment was in reference to the India-China military face-off in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector in December 2022.
A bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice AG Masih took strong exception to the remarks. “How did you get to know that 2,000 sq km of Indian land has been taken over by China? If you are a true Indian... you won’t say all of this,” Justice Datta rebuked Gandhi.
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Earlier, in May, the Allahabad High Court quashed Rahul Gandhi’s plea challenging a summons by a special court, and said freedom of speech does not include the right to ‘defame’ the Army, after a retired defence official in Lucknow filed a defamation complaint against Rahul alleging that his remarks insulted and tarnished the image of the Indian Army.
The Congress hit back, saying the courts could not decide on ‘real’ Indians.
Reacting to his remarks on Tuesday, BJP leader Suresh Nakhua said, “Rahul Gandhi is now searching for castes in the Armed Forces and says 10% of people control it. In his hate for PM Modi, he has already crossed the line of hating India.”
