"Justice Dipankar Datta had no business questioning Rahul Gandhi's Indianness": Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das
Aug 05, 2025
New Delhi [India], August 5 : Odisha Congress president Bhakta Charan Das on Tuesday registered his objection to the observation made by the Supreme Court questioning Rahul Gandhi for his "China occupied Indian territory" remarks.
He said that Justice Dipankar Datta had no business to question Gandhi's "Indianness" for merely criticising the Modi government's "failure on Chinese aggression".
"Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi isn't allowed to question China in Parliament. If he does it on social media, he's asked if he's 'truly Indian'. Justice Dipankar Datta had no business to question Rahul Gandhi's 'Indianness' for criticising the Modi Govt's failure on Chinese aggression," Das posted on X.
"His father and grandmother sacrificed their lives for our country. What more proofs of 'Indianness' do they seek?" he added.
Moreover, Congress leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot defended the LoP, saying that he did not divulge any secret when he said that 2,000 km of Indian territory is intruded by the Chinese Army.
"Rahul Gandhi did not divulge any secret. What he stated about intrusion and skirmishes in which 20 soldiers lost their lives is already in the public domain since long. The intrusion to the extent of about 2000km is also reflected in the reliable text on the internet and the Media, including the location of the intrusion," Gehlot said in a post on X.
He further said that an activist of Ladakh, Sonam Wangchuk, has also been expressing concern about Chinese incursion into Indian territory.
This comes after the Supreme Court pulled up Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his alleged remarks on the Indian Army after a clash between the Indian and Chinese armies in the Yangsi region of Arunachal Pradesh in 2022.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih expressed disapproval of Gandhi's remarks, saying, "How does he know the Chinese occupied 2000 square kilometres of land?" and added that a true Indian wouldn't say such a thing.
Justice Datta said, "How do you get to know that 2000 square kilometres of Indian territory was occupied by China? What is the credible material? If you are a true indian, you would not say this. When there is a conflict across borders... can you say all this?"
The bench further asked senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, why such statements were not made in Parliament but instead on social media.
