Lucknow: Days after Minister for Tribal Affairs of Madhya Pradesh, Vijay Shah made headlines with his controversial remarks on Indian Air Force (IAF) officer Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ramgopal Yadav made headlines by saying that the said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister targeted Qureshi because she is a Muslim. He also added that IAF's wing commander Vyomika Singh was spared as she was considered to be a ‘Rajput’.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath slammed Yadav's remarks. Adityanath said that the armed forces' uniform is not seen through 'casteist' eyes as every soldier does 'Rashtradharma' (duty towards the nation) and is neither a representative of any caste nor of a religion.

The CM took to his official X account and wrote: "The uniform of the army is not seen through a 'casteist lens'. Every soldier of the Indian army performs 'national duty' and is not a representative of any caste or religion."

Yadav, while attending a programme in Moradabad, slammed the BJP for misusing the Tiranga before elections for their benefit. He said, “These people (BJP) are taking out the Tiranga Yatra... They do everything only for the elections. What is the need to take out the Tiranga Yatra? If there is a need, then the whole country should be taken into confidence, and all the political parties should be taken into confidence. Were the people fighting there (in Operation Sindoor) BJP people?"

He then referred to the derogatory comment made by Shah on Colonel Qureshi and said that the BJP minister ‘abused’ the Colonel. "Let me tell you. Vyomika Singh is a Jatav from Haryana, and Air Marshal Bharti is a Yadav from Purnia. So all three were from PDA (Picchda, dalit, Alpsankhyak or Backwards, dalits, and minorities). One was abused because she was a Muslim. The other was spared thinking that she was a Rajput... and there was no information (to them) about Bharti. When it came in the (news)paper, they are forced to think about what to do now", Yadav added.

Yadav alleged that the BJP leaders were also unaware of the director general of air operations, Air Marshal AK Bharti’s caste background. “The high court has ordered registration of a case against him again. But he did not know who Vyomika Singh was, and neither did he know about Air Marshal AK Bharti; otherwise, these people would have abused them too," he added.

Who are Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofiya Qureshi?

Wing Commander Vyomika Singh and Colonel Sofiya Qureshi led the briefings on Operation Sindoor along with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.
Operation Sindoor: In the wee hours of May 7, India launched several precision strikes on select terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). Named Operation Sindoor, it was a bold and calculated military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 26 civilians, mostly tourists.