Congress leaders from across the country have raised objections to the Supreme Court's comments on Rahul Gandhi over his comments on the Indian Army and the Chinese incursions.
Member parties of the INDIA bloc “agreed that the sitting judge has made an extraordinary observation which is unwarranted on the democratic rights of political parties”, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate posted on X on Tuesday morning.
This came just as Priyanka Gandhi, Congress MP and Rahul's sister, remarked that judged cannot decide who a true Indian is. This was in reference to the SC bench's comment that “a true India would never say this”, while hearing a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi.
The SC did stay the proceedings at the trial court stage, and agreed to hear some points raised by Rahul Gandhi's lawyer. But the comments made by the bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih did not go down well with the opposition.
{{/usCountry}}The SC did stay the proceedings at the trial court stage, and agreed to hear some points raised by Rahul Gandhi's lawyer. But the comments made by the bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih did not go down well with the opposition.
{{/usCountry}}Justice Datta said, “How do you get to know that 2000 square kilometres of Indian territory was occupied by China? What is the credible material? If you are a true indian, you would not say this. When there is a conflict across borders... can you say all this?”
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh reacted soon after, saying that “every patriotic Indian has sought answers” on China since the 2020 Galwan incident. He accused the Narendra Modi government of having a "policy of DDLJ” — a reference to a Shah Rukh Khan romcom but here meaning “deny, distract, lie, and justify”.
The BJP took the opportunity to attack Rahul Gandhi, but Jairam Ramesh cited news reports and some officials' submissions about several square kilometres of territory having come under Chinese control. He called it “the biggest territorial setback India has faced since 1962”.
The top court had told Rahul Gandhi, "How do you get to know that 2,000 sq km of Indian territory has been occupied by Chinese? Were you there? Do you have any credible material?"
Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala reacted to this on X. The Chinese occupation of Indian territory is a “reality” that “no patriotic Indian” should wish away, he said.
"Nationalism mandates that government must be questioned," he added, “If this is 'contempt', I, an Indian Citizen, must commit it ‘My Lord’,”
‘If you read social media & BJP trolls…’
Rahul Gandhi's lawyer Abhishek Singhvi, who is a senior Congress leader, pointed out that the court was favourable to him overall.
He said the court formed “prima facie opinion in favour of Rahul Gandhi” and stayed the proceedings in the defamation case.
"If you read social media & BJP trolls or Mr Malviya, it sounds like RG lost today!"
Amit Malviya, the BJP IT cell chief, had called Rahul Gandhi “a certified anti-national” based on the SC's observations.
Singhvi said, “These people quote and gloat on oral observations of SC," adding that the court makes such observations “to elicit responses from each side in every case”.
Former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot also argued on X that what Rahul Gandhi said about the intrusion and skirmishes in which 20 soldiers lost their lives was already in the public domain.
He recalled that Rahul's father Rajiv Gandhi and grandmother Indira Gandhi showed “the ultimate form of patriotism” by “sacrificing one's life for the nation”.
"Rahul Gandhi undertook a 4,000-kilometre journey across the country (Bharat Jodo Yatra) to highlight its issues. Who could be a greater patriot than him?" he said.
'Does this prohibit us?'
Another Congress MP, Karti Chidambaram from Tamil Nadu, underlined that observations by court have “really no binding dictate over anybody”.
“I'm not too sure how to interpret this observation. Does it prohibit us from bringing attention to the nation's issues? This is something which we need to ponder about,” he added.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Congress leader from West Bengal, said the BJP should introspect before commenting on Rahul Gandhi.
Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das said, “Justice Dipankar Datta had no business to question Rahul Gandhi's 'Indianness' for criticising the Modi government's failure on Chinese aggression.”
(With inputs by ANI and PTI)