Kutumba (Bihar): Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi stirred a controversy yet again on Tuesday by saying that the Indian Armed Forces are “under the control of 10 per cent of the country’s population”. He was speaking with reference to the upper castes.
Rahul was speaking at a campaign rally in Bihar’s Kutumba, ahead of the Assembly election that begins on Thursday.
“If you look closely, 90 percent of the country’s population is Dalit, Maha Dalit, backward, extremely backward, or from minority communities. Ninety percent of the people come from the most backward and tribal sections of society,” he said.
“If you take out a list of India’s 500 largest companies, you won’t find anyone from the backward or Dalit communities there, they all come from that top 10 percent. All the jobs go to them. They have control over the armed forces. You won’t find the remaining 90 percent population represented anywhere,” he added.
“We want an India that has space for 90 per cent of the country’s population, where people can live with dignity and happiness. The Congress has always fought for the backward,” Rahul said.
In the past, the Congress MP has demanded caste-based reservation in private sector jobs and universities, but this time he added the armed forces to the list.
The BJP was quick to latch on to the statement, calling Rahul a India hater.
“Rahul Gandhi is now searching for a caste 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,” BJP leader Suresh Nakhua said.
This is not the first time that the Nehru-Gandhi scion has waded into controversy by his remarks about the armed forces.
He was pulled up by the Supreme Court in August over the comment – “Chinese troops are thrashing Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh” – that he made during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The Congress MP had claimed that the Chinese army occupied 2,000 sq km of Indian territory and was “thrashing” Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh.
A retired defence forces personnel from Lucknow lodged a defamation case after that comment, alleging that it insulted and tarnished the image of the Indian Army.
The Allahabad High Court had declined to quash the complaint, after which Rahul had appealed to the Supreme Court.
During the Supreme Court hearing, the bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Augustine George Masih made pointed oral observations, questioning the senior Congress leader about the credibility and basis of his statements, remarking,
“If you are a true Indian, you would not say all this,” Justice Datta had observed.
