A fresh political row has erupted after senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ramgopal Yadav alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) selectively targeted Army Colonel Sofiya Qureshi due to her Muslim identity, while sparing other officers involved in Operation Sindoor based on perceived caste backgrounds.

Addressing a gathering in Moradabad on Thursday, Yadav said, “These people (BJP) are taking out the Tiranga Yatra... They do everything only for elections. What is the need to take out the Tiranga Yatra? If there is a need then the whole country should be taken into confidence, all the political parties should be taken into confidence.”

The SP leader pointed out that Colonel Qureshi and IAF Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, both of whom briefed the media during the Sindoor mission alongside Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, had been treated differently by the ruling party.

Citing a derogatory remark made earlier by Madhya Pradesh minister Vijay Shah against Colonel Qureshi, Yadav claimed, “One was abused as she was a Muslim. The other was spared thinking that she was a Rajput... and there was no information [to them] about Air Marshal Bharti.” The remark comes even as the high court has reportedly ordered the registration of a case against Shah.

Yadav went further to assert that BJP leaders were unaware of the caste backgrounds of the other officers: “Vyomika Singh is a Jatav from Haryana, and Air Marshal A.K. Bharti is a Yadav from Purnia. So all three were from the PDA — Picchda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak [Backward, Dalit, Minority] — and this is the truth they find difficult to digest.”

He accused BJP of politicising military operations for electoral gains: “When people’s mentality is bad, they stop talking about the armed forces’ achievements and begin talking about themselves.”