‘Wasting Crucial Time Discussing Uniform’: Rahul Gandhi Walks Out of Defence Panel Meeting

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other parliamentarians of his party, including Rajeev Satav and Revanth Reddy, on Wednesday walked out of a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence, alleging that the panel’s time was being wasted in discussing armed forces’ uniform rather than the crucial issue of national security, sources said.

The former Congress president was barred from speaking at the meeting by panel chairman Jual Oram (BJP) when he sought hilight the problems of Chinese aggression and better equipping the soldiers at the border in Ladakh, they said.

Oram later told that Gandhi was asking questions not listed within the agenda for the day. “If Rahul Gandhi or any member of the committee asks a issue or raises an issue which isn’t listed within the agenda for the day, then as a md I even have a right to ask him or her to refrain from so. that’s exactly what happened in the meeting today,” Oram said.

The sources said the problem of uniforms of the military , Navy and Air Force was being discussed within the presence of the Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat when Gandhi intervened to mention that rather than discussing this, the political leadership should discuss the problems of national security and the way to strengthen the forces who are fighting the Chinese in Ladakh.

The committee chairman didn’t allow Gandhi to talk , following which the Congress leader decided to run out, they said, adding Satav and Reddy also left the meeting with their leader.

Earlier too, Gandhi had raised the issue of the plight of soldiers guarding the country’s borders amid biting cold. “The jawans of the country are fighting PLA soldiers in extreme weather conditions from normal tents. they’re unafraid. But the Prime Minister of the country flies around in an aeroplane that costs Rs 8,400 crore and he’s scared to even take the name of China. Who got achche din?” he has earlier written on Twitter.