BREAKING: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday during the key NDA Parliamentary meeting launched a scathing attack on Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his remarks on the Galwan Valley clash, aligning with the Supreme Court’s stern observations that came on Monday.
Calling Gandhi’s statements ‘childish’ and ‘reckless’, PM Modi said that the Congress MP was ‘digging his own political grave’ by undermining the nation’s armed forces and national security.
While responding to PM Modi’s remark on Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Udit Raj tells Republic, “There are thousand things that PM Modi has to prove. They have said that Hindus are in danger, can they prove it? What the judge has said is a biased opinion.”
“Whatever Rahul Gandhi says, eventually gets proved – be it farm laws, be it COVID-19, unemployment, foreign policies. On the floor of the house he has also said that the biggest crime done by the Modi govt is bringing China and Pakistan together,” he added.
Supreme Court: “A True Indian Would Not Say This”
The Prime Minister’s comments came after a strong censure by the Supreme Court, which pulled up Rahul Gandhi for claiming that China had seized 2,000 sq km of Indian territory. A bench led by Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Augustine George Masih said –
“How do you know 2,000 sq km was acquired by China? What is the credible material? A true Indian would not say this. When there is a conflict at the border, can you say such things? Why can’t you ask these questions in Parliament?”
The court also questioned why such statements were made in public forums and on social media rather than in Parliament, especially given Gandhi’s role as the Leader of the Opposition.
The defamation case on Rahul Gandhi was filed by Uday Shankar Srivastava, a former Director of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), and is currently being heard in a special MP/MLA court in Lucknow.
The case pertains to comments made by Gandhi during his Bharat Jodo Yatra on December 16, 2022, allegedly referring to the December 9, 2022 clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Arunachal Pradesh.
Srivastava has accused Gandhi of making repeated and derogatory remarks claiming that the Chinese army was “thrashing” Indian soldiers, and alleging that the Indian media was silent on the issue. The Lucknow court observed that such remarks could potentially demoralise the Indian Army and negatively impact soldiers and their families.
In rejecting Gandhi’s plea, Justice Subhash Vidyarthi of the Allahabad High Court ruled that the right to freedom of speech does not extend to making defamatory statements about the Indian Army.