House Panel meeting: On Thursday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla stating that he was not permitted to talk freely at the House Panel meeting on Defense.

In his letter, Gandhi urged the Speaker to ensure that the right to speak freely of MP’s in parliamentary meetings was secured. The Speaker ought to guarantee that presentations and discussions on the board on defense were in accordance with its objective and purpose. 

Rahul Gandhi also expressed shock over the panel that decided to discuss uniforms instead of the prevailing military situation and referenced that he had given in writing that the Committee should address India’s strategy against China’s stance on the northern borders. 

“Moreover on China’s armed drones and automated system strategy, its approach to warfare, rockets, and space capacities; and also regarding the topic of internal government deal on Rafale aircraft”. 

Rahul expressed that presently the nation is confronting a genuine national security challenge on our borders and that China has forcibly occupied our territory and martyred 20 of our officers. There are numerous issues to talk about during such a critical point in time. 

He added that “he was extremely disturbed to find that the Chief of Defense Staff and the top of the Army, Air Force, and Navy, who have significant matters to address, had been requested by the chairman to spend the entire afternoon discussing the color tones and various insignia’s and uniforms worn by various positions in forces,” the letter stated. 

As per ANI, he was prohibited to speak at the panel meeting by the chairman Jual Oram of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when he tried to raise the matter of Chinese aggression and for better weapons for Indian forces at the borders in Ladakh. 

He likewise communicated dismay over the content in the meeting and the way in which it was commenced and added that being the head interface between the defense forces and elected MPs, it was intended to give authoritative oversight on strategies and decisions of the defense service.