NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday objected to the observation made by the Supreme Court questioning Rahul Gandhi for his “China occupied Indian territory” remarks.“With due respect to the honourable judges of the Supreme Court, they do not decide who a true Indian is. It is the duty of the opposition leader to question the government. My brother (Rahul Gandhi) would never speak against the Army, he holds them in the highest respect. This is a misinterpretation,” the Congress MP said while talking to reporters.Meanwhile, Congress MP KC Venugopal also responded to the SC pulling up Rahul Gandhi, saying, “What Rahul Gandhi is discussing is the thinking of every nationalist Indian. Whenever we are asking questions inside the Parliament, there is no answer. Whenever we are asking something related to national interest outside the Parliament, we are termed as anti-national. Who will give the definition of ‘true Indian’? We are the true Indians who are raising questions for India.“The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the proceedings against Rahul Gandhi before a Lucknow court over his remarks about the Army during his December 2022 Bharat Jodo Yatra. The court, however, censured the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, saying if he is a “true Indian”, he would not say such a thing.“You are leader of opposition. Say things in Parliament, why do you have say it on social media?“How do you get to know that 2000 sq km land was occupied by Chinese, if you are true indian, you wouldn’t say such a thing,” the bench observed.A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and A G Masih lambasted Rahul for his 2022 statement, saying that Chinese are “thrashing our soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh”, while criticising the government for its handling of the Galwan Valley clash at the LAC.Rahul moved the Supreme Court after the Allahabad high court on May 29 rejected his plea for quashing of the summoning order passed in February by a court in Lucknow.“People will ask about Bharat Jodo Yatra, here and there, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot and what-not. But they will not ask a single question about China capturing 2,000 sqkm of Indian territory, killing 20 Indian soldiers and thrashing our soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh. But the Indian Press doesn’t ask a question to them about this. Isn’t it true? The nation is watching all this. Don’t pretend that people don’t know,” Rahul had said at a press conference during the Bharat Jodo yatra.
