Shri Surjewala said, “Indian National Congress welcomes the path breaking and the historic judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India today ensuring complete equality giving permanent commission, giving combat role and giving a right to lead men and women in the Army to India’s daughters. This is a victory for every citizen of this country who believes in equality bereft of sexes.

This is a defeat of Modi government and its myopic thinking and thought process whereby the BJP government and the Modi government argued before the Hon’ble Supreme Court that men and women cannot be equal for combat roles. That women should not be given permanent commission in the Armed Forces, that women are physically inferior and they have to cater to their household duties and that is why they are not fit for command roles and combat roles in the Army, that men sepoys and our jawans will never accept the leadership of women in the Army and Armed Forces. All these myopic, backward 17th century arguments of BJP were rejected.

We welcome this and hail this historical verdict which has opened the doors for one more field for India’s daughters and India’s women of serving Mother India, of serving the country and of playing equal role in the Armed Forces of the country. It is a defeat for every such political or other force which seeks to distinguish men and women presuming that women are inferior to men or have a second-class status when compared to men as was being argued by Modi government in the Hon’ble Supreme Court.” Monday, 17th February, 2020