'Rahul should click refresh button'; Command posts issue a Cong legacy: BJP

The BJP welcomed the Supreme Court's order on Monday to grant permanent commission to all women officers in the Army, and attacked the Congress by saying that the denial of the posts was its legacy.

"Mr Rahul Gandhi please click the refresh memory button. It was Congress govt that argued vociferously against permanent commissioning of women in the Army back in 2010 before the Delhi HC," BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who represented the women officers in the apex court, said.

"It was your govt who challenged the decision before the SC which ruled in favour of women," Lekhi said at a press conference at the party headquarters in New Delhi.

Calling for an end to gender bias in the armed forces, the Supreme Court has opened the way for women in command positions in the Army and directed the Centre to grant permanent commission to all women officers within three months.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party government disrespected Indian women by arguing in court that they did not deserve command posts as they were inferior to men.

Lekhi alleged that Gandhi had used derogatory language towards the government on the issue.

The BJP leader added that only if Gandhi was aware of the facts that successive Congress governments filed affidavits before the courts arguing against granting the permanent commission, he would not have made those remarks.

Lekhi also congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi, judges and others.

She said Modi was never against the permanent commission and he exhibited his intent by making a public announcement in his address to the nation on August 15, 2018.

Lekhi said the women should be treated equally as they were also serving the nation like their male colleagues.

According to her, the women are not asking for any charity or favour, but simply seeking to be treated and dealt at par with their male colleagues.

It was also about justice and gender was being used to cause injustice, she added.