Politicians in Uttar Pradesh are going all out to capitalise on the ongoing caste and religion slugfest involving the foreign secretary and the two women officers from the armed forces who were assigned the task of briefing the media during Operation Sindoor.
Samajwadi Party general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav on Friday reacted to a statement made by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on this issue without naming him.
Yadav posted on X: “In some north Indian states, especially Uttar Pradesh, fake cases are filed based on people’s caste and religion; encounters happen after verifying their caste and religion; individuals are booked under the Gangster Act, their properties seized, and atrocities are committed, all based on their caste and religion. Employees are even posted or transferred based on their caste and religion.
"I had earlier mentioned that there are people who cursed Colonel Sofiya (Qureshi) and foreign secretary (Vikram) Misri because they identified their religion and caste. Had they known their castes, they would also have cursed Wing Commander Vyomika Singh Jatav and Air Marshal Awadhesh Bharti Yadav. The BJP leaders assumed Vyomika Singh was a Rajput, and they didn’t know Bharti’s caste.”
Yadav had said in a public meeting in Moradabad on Thursday: “Vyomika Singh belongs to (he mentioned her specific Scheduled Caste) from Haryana. The BJP didn’t know her caste and so spared her but they targeted Sofiya Qureshi because she is a Muslim.”
Adityanath had responded to Yadav's remarks on Thursday on X: "We don’t view the army’s uniform through the lens of casteism. Every soldier of the Indian armed forces observes nationalism. They don’t represent any caste or religion...."