If not courts then who will decide who is national or anti-national?: BJP slams Priyanka's response to SC rebuke to Rahul

The top court slammed Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi who had claimed China captured 2,000 sq. kms of Indian territory.

In response to the court verdict, Priyanka said, "Who is a true Indian and who is not—this is not the job of the judiciary or any justice to decide. - I am saying this while fully respecting the judiciary. Rahul Gandhi ji has always respected the army and our soldiers. He always holds respect for the army.

"As the Leader of the Opposition, it is his responsibility to ask questions of the government, but when the government does not want to answer, it resorts to such tactics. Is the government so weak that it cannot even run Parliament? Why is the government not holding a discussion on SIR when the entire opposition is demanding a discussion in Parliament?"

Slamming Priyanka, BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya wrote on X, "If the Courts won’t decide who is national and who is anti-national, then who will? The smug entitlement of the Gandhi family is not just baffling — it reeks of contempt for the judiciary. This brazen defiance is a direct challenge to the authority of the Supreme Court and cannot go unchecked.

"The Court must take suo motu cognisance, just as it did in the case of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. The law must apply equally to all. The Gandhis cannot be allowed to believe they are above it."

After a meeting of INDIA bloc leaders, a joint statement was issued by the anti-Modi front that said it is the responsibility of the LoP to make "comment on issues of national interest".

The statement reads, "Today during the morning meeting of the INDIA floor leaders, the remarks of a sitting judge of the Supreme Court on the Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi was discussed.

"All the leaders of the India parties agreed that the sitting judge has made an extraordinary observation which is unwarranted on the democratic rights of political parties. It is the responsibility of political parties especially the Leader of Opposition to comment on issues of national interest. When a government fails so spectacularly to defend our borders, it is every citizen’s moral duty to hold it accountable."

'If you are a true Indian, you won't say all of this': SC to Rahul Gandhi

A top court bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and AG Masih slammed Rahul's remark which he passed during his nationwide mass outreach campaign, Bharat Jodo Yatra.

"How did you get to know that 2,000 sq km of Indian land has been taken over by the Chinese? If you are a true Indian... you won't say all of this," the bench said as quoted by NDTV.

The court rapped the Congress MP even after staying the proceedings in the criminal defamation case against the Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha.

The bench has issued a notice to quash the defamation case.

Representing the Congress' de facto top leader, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said as reported by the broadcaster, "If he can't say these things... how can he be the Leader of Opposition?"

In response, Justice Datta said, "Then why don't you say such things in Parliament. Why say on social media?"

Rahul had made the claim in the backdrop of the 2020 deadly Galwan clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers along Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The Rae Bareli MP had accused the Modi government of surrendering before China.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had clarified neither anyone intruded into the Indian territory nor any post was captured.

"Neither anyone got inside our territory nor is any of our post captured," the Prime Minister had said in a statement.