Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has once again sparked controversy with his statement on the military. Addressing an election rally in Aurangabad, Bihar, he said that 10 percent of the country’s population controls the military. Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders have long called for a caste census, but this is the first time he has mentioned the military in this regard.
Following Rahul’s statement, the BJP launched an offensive. The party said, “Rahul Gandhi is now looking for caste in the army and saying that 10% of the population controls it. In his hatred for Prime Minister Modi, he has crossed all limits of hatred for India.” This is not the first time that Rahul Gandhi’s statement regarding the army has sparked controversy.
In 2016, Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of hiding behind the blood of soldiers and “brokering” on their sacrifices. This matter even reached the court. However, Rahul was granted relief. Following this, in 2020, following the Galwan clash, Rahul Gandhi also made a statement about the army.
A Congress MP had said that China had occupied a part of our territory. The Supreme Court issued a strong remark on this. The court asked, “Were you there? Do you have any credible material? Why are you making these statements without any evidence? If you were a true Indian, you wouldn’t be saying all this.”
Where the statement was given, but what is the caste story there? The statement given by Rahul on Tuesday (4 November) was given in Aurangabad district. That Aurangabad where the number of Rajputs is the highest. It is also known as Chittorgarh of Bihar. Their population here is more than 2.5 lakhs. The number of Yadavs is 2 lakhs. Kushwaha caste also lives here in good numbers. Their population is 1.75 lakhs. If we talk about Bhumihars, their number is 1 lakh. The population of Muslims is 1 lakh 25 thousand. Ravidas 1.5 lakhs, EBC 4.5 lakhs, Paswans 1.25 lakhs live here.
Bihar has a significant number of people in the Indian Army. Bihar’s share of total military personnel is approximately 11 percent. These figures are from 2011. The government provided information on the number of people from each state in the armed forces to Parliament in 2022. According to the government’s response, 8,152 officers of the rank of Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCO) are from Bihar. The number of other ranks is over 65,000. The number of officers is 540.
