Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday said Supreme Court judges do not decide who is a true Indian, her comments coming a day after the apex court expressed its displeasure over Priyanka’s brother, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, saying China had occupied Indian land.
"With due respect to the honourable judges of the Supreme Court, they do not decide who is a true Indian,” Priyanka told reporters at the Parliament Complex on Tuesday. “It is the job of the Opposition leader; it is his duty to ask questions and to challenge the government."
She said: "My brother would never say anything against the army. He holds the army in the highest respect. So it is a misinterpretation [of his remarks]," she said.
“How do you know that 2,000sqkm of property in India was occupied by the Chinese? Do you have any evidence?” a bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Augustine George Masih told senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Rahul, on Monday. “Were you there at that time or do you have any credible evidence? If you are a true Indian, you wouldn’t be saying such a thing.”
The bench was hearing an appeal filed by Rahul challenging Allahabad High Court’s May 29 judgment refusing to quash a defamation case filed against him for the remark he had made during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in December 2022.
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the proceedings against Rahul before a Lucknow courtin the case.
The BJP has been going hammer and tongs at Rahul Gandhi, saying he has vowed to "strengthen China".
The Congress has asserted that every patriotic Indian has sought answers since the Galwan incident but the government has chosen to "obfuscate" the truth with its policy of "DDLJ -- deny, distract, lie, and justify".
