SP's Ram Gopal Yadav stokes row with caste jibe at BJP: 'If they knew about Wg Cdr Vyomika Singh and Air Marshal AK Bharti...'

Ram Gopal Yadav

Samajwadi Party's Ramal Gopal Yadav courted a major controversy on Thursday with his casteist remark on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when he said that members of party would have called out Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Air Marshal AK Bharti had they known their caste affiliations.

The SP leaders comments comes hours after the Supreme Court came down heavily on Madhya Pradesh BJP minister Kunwar Vijay Shah for his alleged and “irresponsible” comments, the Supreme Court observed that a person holding a constitutional post must exercise restraint, especially during sensitive national operations like Operation Sindoor.

Addressing a group of SP supporters, Gopal drew a parallel between Kunwar Vijay Shah's insensitive remarks and a possible scenario of a BJP members highlighting the caste affiliations of two senior members of the armed forces-- Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Air Marshal AK Bharti, who had played a vital role as India successfully conducted Operation Sindoor.

"They didn’t even know who Vyomika Singh was or what her caste is, nor did they know about Air Marshal A.K. Bharti. Otherwise, they would’ve hurled abuses at them too. Let me tell you — Vyomika Singh is a ‘Jatav Chamar’ from Haryana, and Air Marshal A.K. Bharti is a Yadav from Purnia. All three were from the PDA segment. One was abused because they thought she was Muslim, one was thought to be Rajput, so nothing was said, and about the other, they have no information..."

Yadav also went on to question the purpose of a nationwide tiranga march. The march comes two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Adampur Air Force Station on May 13 to meet and honour the soldiers who played a pivotal role in the recently concluded operation. Questing the government's timing of Operation Sindoor, the SP leader remarked that the government should have taken the national will into consideration before launching an all-out strike on terror infrastructure in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan.