'Named caste of IAF officers Vyomika Singh, AK Bharti because...': SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav clarifies

Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav clarified his alleged 'caste' remarks against Indian Air Force officers Vyomika Singh and A.K. Barti on Friday. He said Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath spoke against him without even listening to his speech.

 

The SP leader is facing backlash over his alleged casteist remarks against the armed forces officials who conducted media briefings as part of India's 'Operation Sindoor'. The SP leader made the comments while targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party over Madhya Pradesh Minister Kunwar Vijay Shah's comments against Colonel Sofia Qureshi.

 

Accusing the Uttar Pradesh government of targeting individuals from underprivileged communities over their caste, Yadav said, "In some states of North India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, where fake cases are being filed against people based on religion, caste, and class, where encounters are being carried out based on caste and religion, where properties are being seized under the Gangster Act based on caste, religion, and class, where atrocities are being committed against women based on caste, religion, and class, and where postings of employees and officers are being done based on caste, religion, and class—about such people with a corrupt mentality, I had said in a program yesterday that Colonel Sofia was identified by her religion through her name and was abused, Foreign Secretary Mistri was abused. If these abusers had known that Vyomika Singh is a Jatav and Air Marshal Avadhesh Bharti is a Yadav, they wouldn’t have spared these officers from abuses either."

 

Yadav charged Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spoke against him without listening to his statement. "I am surprised that the Chief Minister, under whose nose unimaginable atrocities are happening against minorities, Dalits, and backward classes, tweeted without even listening to my full statement," he added. 

 

Adityanath on Thursday slammed Yadav for his comments. The Uttar Pradesh CM said, "The uniform of the army is not viewed through the lens of casteism. Every soldier of the Indian Army upholds the duty of 'nationalism,' not representing any caste or religion." 

 

"The act of the Samajwadi Party's national general secretary to confine a brave daughter within the boundaries of caste is not only a display of his party's narrow-minded thinking but also a grave insult to the valour of the army and the nation's pride," he charged.

India