‘Talking About Caste In Army Is Against National Interest’
PATNA: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday warned leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi against “dragging the Army into politics”, dismissing his claim that “10% of the country’s population” controls the armed forces, bureaucracy and judiciary as a ludicrous statement implying a demand for caste-based reservation in the military.”Whenever this country has faced a crisis, our soldiers have held India’s head high with their bravery. They have only one religion – Sainya Dharma. We do not want to discriminate within the Army based on caste, sect or religion,” Rajnath said at a rally in Bihar’s Banka district.He said NDA supported reservation for social equity but “talking about caste in the Army is against national interest”. Politics of caste and religion, he added, had already caused great harm to country.Rahul had made the “10%” remark during an INDIA bloc rally in Aurangabad the previous day, alleging that upper castes corner opportunities across institutions.Rajnath accused Rahul of routinely making baseless allegations against constitutional bodies to mask the opposition’s electoral failures. He said Congress and its allies had targeted EC with charges of vote theft without any proof. “They blame EC, which demands evidence, but they refuse to provide any. Fearing defeat in Bihar, they have now dropped another hydrogen bomb. The people of Bihar have already made them realise their defeat is certain. That’s why they are taking dips in ponds,” he said, referring to Rahul’s boat-jump and swim in Begusarai recently. Campaigning in Jamui for the second phase of polling on Nov 11, Rajnath said Rahul’s charge that EC influenced the Haryana polls to help NDA reflected “insecurity born of incompetence”.
