‘BJP mistook Wing Commander Singh for Rajput, didn't know Air Marshal Bharti's caste': SP MP Ram Gopal Yadav
AS A BJP Madhya Pradesh minister faces an FIR over his remarks directed at one of the woman officers who held daily briefings on Operation Sindoor, Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav has now waded into a row, speaking at length about the castes of other officers who were part of the briefings on the Operation, in seeking to attack the BJP.
Had the BJP known about the castes of Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Air Marshal A K Bharti, Yadav said, it would have 'abused' them too, like Qureshi.
Addressing a gathering of partymen in Moradabad Thursday, Yadav, the SP national general secretary and a Rajya Sabha MP, questioned the BJP over its Tiranga Yatras on Operation Sindoor, and said: 'They can do anything for elections… What is the need for this? And if it is needed, do this taking the entire country, all the political parties, into confidence… Were the people who were fighting (at the border) BJP workers?'
Yadav then added: 'Their minister even gave gaali (abuses) to our Colonel Qureshi. The High Court ordered an FIR against him. Lekin (Vyomika Singh) ke baare me inhein maloom nahin, ki woh kaun hain. Aur naa air operation ke jo incharge thai – Air Marshal Awadhesh Kumar Bharti – unke baare mein maloom tha. Warna inhein bhi gaali dete (But they didn't know about Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, or the officer in-charge of the air operations, Air Marshal Bharti. Otherwise, the BJP would have abused them too).'
Specifying the castes of Singh and Bharti, Yadav added: 'Hence, all three (including Qureshi) are PDA. Ek ko Musalman samajh ke gaali di. Ek ko Rajput samajh ke kuch nahin kiya. Aur Bharti ke baare me jaankari nahin thi (One was abused for being a Muslim, one was spared as they mistook her for a Rajput, while they had no knowledge about Bharti).'
PDA or 'Pichde, Dalit, Alpasankhyak' is the SP's formulation for the backward classes, Dalits and minorities, whom it is aggressively wooing in preparation for the 2027 Assembly polls.
The SP leader said that seeing Army officers along these lines showed the problem with the BJP's 'mansikta (mindset)'. 'And hence, instead of talking about the Army's achievements, the party has started listing its own.'
Reacting sharply to Yadav's remarks, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said this showed his 'distorted casteist thinking', and that the Armed Forces should never be seen through such a prism. In a post on 'X' in Hindi, Adityanath said: 'Confining a brave daughter to her caste by the national general secretary of the Samajwadi Party does not only show the narrow thinking of the party, but is also an insult to the valour of the Army and the honour of the country.'
The CM added: 'This is the same mentality which divides even patriotism, for politics of appeasement and vote bank.'
BSP chief Mayawati also tweeted attacking the SP leader for his remarks. 'The entire country is united in taking pride in the valour shown by the Indian Armed Forces in Operation Sindoor against the terrorists in Pakistan. In such a situation, it is highly objectionable to seek to judge/divide the Army on the basis of religion and caste. The mistake that the BJP minister made in this regard, the same a senior SP leader has made today, which is shameful and condemnable,' she posted in Hindi.
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