Congress reacts after Digvijaya Singh's surgical strikes remarks spark row
The Congress on Monday distanced itself from the comments made by its senior leader Digvijaya Singh on the 2016 surgical strikes and said the views expressed by him “are his own” and “do not reflect the position" of the party.
The Congress on Monday distanced itself from the comments made by its senior leader Digvijaya Singh on the 2016 surgical strikes and said the views expressed by him “are his own” and “do not reflect the position" of the party.
“The views expressed by senior leader Digvijaya Singh are his own and do not reflect the position of Congress. Surgical strikes were carried out before 2014 by UPA government. Congress has supported & will continue to support all military actions that are in the national interest,” AICC communication incharge Jairam Ramesh tweeted.
Addressing a public meeting during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, Singh questioned the surgical strikes and accused the government of peddling lies, drawing furious reactions from the Bharatiya Janata Party, which claimed that the opposition party was blinded by its "hate" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has "insulted" the armed forces.
Singh alleged that the government did not agree to the CRPF request of flying its personnel from Srinagar to Delhi and 40 soldiers sacrificed their lives in Pulwama in 2019 in a terror attack.
"They talk of surgical strikes. They claim to have killed so many people but no proof is given. They are ruling by peddling a bundle of lies," Singh, who has often courted controversy with his comments, said.
In a tweet in Hindi later, he said, "From where did the terrorists get 300 kg of RDX in Pulwama incident? DSP Davinder Singh was caught with terrorists but then why was he released? We also want to know about the friendship between the prime ministers of Pakistan and India."
In his video message attached to the tweet, Singh said 40 CRPF personnel sacrificed their lives in Pulwama, but this government has not been able to reveal from where three quintals of RDX came.
"Besides, the government has not been able to answer where is DSP Davinder Singh, who was caught involved with terrorists. Why was he let free and why was a case of treason not registered against him?
"We would also like to know from the prime minister as to what kind of relations he has with Pakistani prime minister that both are praising each other. At least, he should answer these questions," the Congress leader said in a video message.
The BJP launched a sharp attack on the Congress, saying that such comments show that the Rahul Gandhi-led foot march across the country is Bharat Jodo Yatra only in name while he and his party colleagues are working to ‘break’ the country. It is essentially "Bharat todo yatra", BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said.
He said, "India will not tolerate if they speak against armed forces. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress hate PM Modi but it seems they have been blinded by the hate to an extent that their dedication to the country has withered away."
"Gandhi and the Congress do not have trust in our brave armed forces. They repeatedly raise questions and insult the citizens of India and our armed forces," Bhatia claimed.
With the Pulwama terror attack and surgical strikes taking place in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the issues had captured the popular imagination as the BJP retained power at the Centre with a bigger mandate than in 2014 by winning over 300 seats out of 543.
Supporting Singh, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera shared his tweet and video message and said Modi should answer questions on Pulwama and not hide behind the armed forces.
(With inputs from agencies)