LUCKNOW: After Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, who gained attention while conducting media briefings alongside Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri during Operation Sindoor, became the subject of a casteist slur by senior Samajwadi Party (SP) MP and party’s national General Secretary, Professor Ramgopal Yadav, triggering a fresh round of political slugfest.
Ramgopal Yadav, who is also the uncle of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, said at an event in Moradabad on Thursday that BJP supporters had targeted Colonel Sofiya Qureshi because of her Muslim identity. “Had they known Vyomika Singh was from the Jatav community, they would have targeted her too. Thinking her to be a Rajput, they spared her.”
The SP MP was referring to Madhya Pradesh minister Kunwar Vijay Shah’s remarks on Colonel Qureshi, which led to legal proceedings against him and an admonishment by the Supreme Court of India.
The remarks drew strong criticism from BJP leaders, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who said, “The uniform should not be seen through casteist lenses. Every soldier of the Indian Army performs national duty instead of representing any caste or religion. Relegating a valiant daughter of India to a caste by the National General Secretary of SP 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 dignity of the country.”
Launching a broadside on the SP leader, UP Deputy CM Keshav Maurya said that the Army had the sole duty of defending the country. “Looking at the caste and religion in the Army is a reflection of a low mentality. PM Narendra Modi has also laid stress on women’s empowerment in the Armed Forces. Everyone should trust him,” said Maurya.
Similarly, the other Deputy CM, Brajesh Pathak, called it the anti-woman and anti-Dalit mentality of the SP leader. “India will not accept the insult of Dalits. People should refrain from making such statements for the sake of the country,” maintained Pathak.
However, with Akhilesh Yadav and his ally Congress observing a guarded silence over the issue, Ayodhya MP Awadhesh Prasad took a different line by disagreeing with Ramgopal Yadav’s remarks. He said caste had no place in the Army and politics should stay out of it. Such thinking must be rejected.
Meanwhile, Ramgopal Yadav came out with a clarification over his remarks 20 hours later but stopped short of offering an apology.
He said that in a state where people were shot based on caste and religion, the Chief Minister reacted without watching his full statement.
Taking to the microblogging site X, Yadav claimed: “In some states of North India, especially in Uttar Pradesh, fake cases are being filed against people based on religion, caste, and class. Encounters are being conducted based on caste and religion. Properties are being seized by labelling people as gangsters based on caste and religion. Atrocities are being committed against women based on caste, religion, and class. Employees and officers are being posted based on caste, religion, and class.”
He further posted: “About people with such a distorted mentality, I said at an event yesterday (Thursday) that Colonel Sofiya Qureshi was identified by her religious name, which is why she was abused. Foreign Secretary Misri was also abused. If these abusers had found out that Wing Commander Vyomika Singh is Jatav and Air Marshal Awadhesh Bharti is Yadav, they would not have refrained from abusing these officers as well.”
“I am surprised that the Chief Minister, under whose nose atrocities are being committed on minorities, Dalits, and backward classes, tweeted without listening to my entire statement. I have no complaints against the media channels that had captured Islamabad and Rawalpindi, because no one trusts them except the ruling party,” posted the SP MP.
