New Delhi, 5 August

INDIA bloc on Tuesday stated that Supreme Court's remarks on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on his allegations about the Chinese incursion can be considered as an effort to limit the rights of political parties.

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said that the decision to condemn the apex court's remarks was taken at a meeting of Parliament floor leaders of the INDIA alliance.

"A meeting of the INDIA alliance took place in the office of Mallikarjun Kharge where discussions took place on SIR, along with the observation made by the Supreme Court on our leader Rahul Gandhi... Opposition's duty is to raise the issues of the country inside and outside the Parliament," Gogoi told reporters.

He said that INDIA bloc leaders felt the Supreme Court's observation was "very shocking".

"We have come to a decision that a joint press statement must be issued today from the floor leaders of the INDIA alliance and we have given it saying that the Supreme Court judge made a remark that can be considered as an effort to limit the rights of political parties," he said.

"The remarks are extraordinary and unwarranted. The duty of the leader of the opposition is to raise the issues of the country and when the ruling party hesitates from answering on the issues related to the border security, people have the right to question," he said.

On Monday, the Supreme Court pulled up 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.