Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Saturday asked if former prime minister Indira Gandhi can be credited for liberating Bangladesh from Pakistan, why should not Prime Minister Narendra Modi be credited for the Balakot air strike.
Singh was addressing a rally here in support of BJP president Amit Shah, who filed his nomination from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency later in the day.
"It was the bravery of our forces that they divided Pakistan into two parts. One remained Pakistan, while Bangladesh was formed (out of the other)," he said.
"After the war, our leader A B Vajpayee praised Indira Gandhi in Parliament. She was also praised all over the country," Singh added.
Referring to the Pulwama attack, the home minister said, "When our 40-42 CRPF soldiers lost their lives in a fidayeen attack, Modiji gave a free hand to our forces."
"If Indira Gandhi can get the credit of dividing Pakistan in 1971, why shouldn't Modiji get the credit for what he has done in Balakot," Rajnath asked.
"If our prime minister has shown such strong willpower to avenge the terror attack on our CRPF jawans, then I would like to ask you why our prime minister should not be praised?" he questioned.
Singh hit out at the Congress for not carrying out similar retaliatory action after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008. "The Congress was in power when 26/11 attack took place in Mumbai. And they (Congress-led UPA) could do nothing against Pakistan. When political power and military might go hand in hand, then I can assure you that no power in the world can challenge the might of our military," he said.
He asked the people to "punish" Congress president Rahul Gandhi for making allegations of corruption against the prime minister.
"Who will deny the fact that India's respectability in international fraternity has grown. We all accept the truth that India's leadership is in strong hands. But the irony is that the leader of our opposition party and Congress national president abuses our prime minister. I appeal to the people through this event to punish that political party which abuses our PM," he said.
"You have seen earlier governments. In the past five years, no one can dare say there is a blemish of corruption on PM Modi or any of his ministers," the home minister claimed.
