Row over SP leader’s comment on Wing Commander rages

Uproar over SP leader's caste comments on Wing Commander Vyomika Singh condemned by political parties as shameful.

The uproar over senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ram Gopal Yadav’s statement highlighting the caste identity of Wing Commander Vyomika Singh failed to die down with political parties on Friday (May 16, 2025) describing the comment as shameful and condemnable. They added that the SP is a party that “tortured Dalits” during its regime, and it is not refraining from looking at Dalits as inferior even in this era.

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“Shri Ram Gopal Yadav, who became a professor by continuously torturing Dalits, is not refraining from looking down upon Dalits even at this age. The real face of the SP, which is anti-Dalit, supporting elements working against India, appeasing Muslim community and narrow-minded is again in front of all of us,” said Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) further hit out at the SP for spreading poison in the society and doing disservice to the nation. “People who spread poison in the name of caste for political gains are doing a great disservice to the Indian Army and nation by vitiating the society with such perverse thought, such people only display their narrow vision which is against the spirit of Indian society which lives and thrives with different castes, languages, religions and worldviews. Indian society through history has lived with coherence. These SP leaders making such a statement symbolises them playing in the hands of elements working on a grand narrative of breaking India into pieces,” said Pushkar Mishra, a senior BJP functionary based in U.P.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati termed the statement shameful. “The entire country is united and proud of the valour of Operation Sindoor of the Indian Army against the terrorists in Pakistan. In such a situation, it is extremely unfair to judge/divide the army on the basis of religion and caste. The mistake that the BJP minister made in this regard, the same senior SP leader has also made, which is shameful and condemnable,” wrote Ms. Mayawati on X.

Mr. Yadav, who is a Rajya Sabha member, had on May 15 sparked a controversy when he said Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, a part of the military’s news briefings during Operation Sindoor, was being targeted by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Minister as she is a Muslim, but Wing Commander Vyomika Singh was spared thinking she was Rajput. Touching upon the caste identity of Ms. Singh, the SP leader said all three — Ms. Qureshi, the Wing Commander and Air Marshal A.K. Bharti hail from the so-called PDA (Pichda, Dalit and Alpasankhyak) meaning Backward, Dalit and Minority social segments.