‘If you are a true Indian, you wouldn’t say this’: SC raps Rahul Gandhi for remarks that China occupied land

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his alleged remarks on the Indian Army after a clash between the Indian and Chinese armies in 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 said that a true indian wouldn’t say such a thing.

Justice Datta said, “How do you get to know that 2,000 sqkm 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?”

J Datta to @RahulGandhi: “How do you get to know that 2000 sqr km of Indian territory has been occupied by Chinese? Were you there? Do you have any credible material? If you are a true Indian, you won’t say such a thing. Where there is a conflict across the border, is it unusual… https://t.co/T9PI7AkJmL

— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) August 4, 2025

The bench also asked senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, why Gandhi didn’t say all this in Parliament and why on social media. “Whatever you have to say, why don’t you say it in the Parliament? Why do you have to say this in the social media posts?” asked Justice Datta.

Meanwhile, the apex court also stayed further proceedings before the trial court in the case and issued notice to the complainant, former Border Roads Organisation (BRO) Director Uday Shankar Srivastava. The Allahabad High Court, on May 29, had rejected Gandhi’s plea, challenging the defamation case as well as the summoning order passed in February 2025 by an MP MLA court in Lucknow.

Srivastava in his defamation complaint stated that the alleged derogatory remarks by Gandhi were made on December 16, 2022, during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, saying his objectionable comments pertaining to a clash between the Indian and Chinese Armies had defamed the Indian Army.

Gandhi, on December 16, 2022, during his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in the presence of media persons and a large gathering of the public, spoke regarding a face-off that took place between the Indian Army and the Chinese Army at the border of India in Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, 2022.

Gandhi had said, “People will ask about Bharat Jodo Yatra, here and there, Ashok Gahlot and Sachin Pilot and whatnot. But they will not ask a single question about China capturing 2000 square kilometres of Indian territory, killing 20 Indian soldiers and thrashing our soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh. But the Indian press doesn’t ask a question to them about this. Isn’t it true? The nation is watching all this. Don’t pretend that people don’t know.”

The complainant had said that the statement given by Gandhi was made as an attempt to demoralise the Indian Army

Gandhi’s statement is false and baseless and it was given with an evil intention of demoralising the Indian Army and to damage the faith of the Indian population on the Indian Army, whereas the truth is that in the scuffle that took place in Yangsi region Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, 2022, the Indian Army successfully restrained the Chinese Army from entering the territory protected by it and badly chased them away, Srivastava said in his complaint. (ANI)