In an apparent reference to SP leader Azam Khan’s ‘hate’ speech dragging the Kargil conflict into the high-voltage lok Sabha electioneering, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said he was appalled by the desperate attempts to communalise the polls.
“India needs growth, jobs, security, infrastructure and justice for all Indians,” Chouhan said on micro-blogging site Twitter. “Our armed forces should be kept out of communal politics at any cost and added that any inimical attempt to do so should face prosecution,” he tweeted without taking any names.
The controversy-prone Khan, a Minister in the Uttar Pradesh Government, kicked up a row at an election rally in Ghaziabad on April 7 when he said it was ‘Muslim soldiers’ who fought for India’s victory in the 1999 Kargil war against Pakistan.“Those who fought for victory in Kargil were not Hindu soldiers, in fact the ones who fought for our victory were Muslim soldiers,” he had said in a speech laced with communal overtones.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Wednesday sought a detailed report from poll authorities in Uttar Pradesh on the controversial remarks made by Khan besides SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and RlD chief Ajit Singh during their campaign.
Meanwhile, Indian Armed Forces veterans on Wednesday rained fire on Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan’s statement that the peaks of Kargil were not re-conquered by Hindus but by Muslim soldiers raising the battle cry of God is the greatest.
“My blood boiled to listen to Khan’s speech. The Armed Forces comprising the sole truly secular institution have been dragged into polarised vote-bank politics. This is preposterous, dangerous and anti-national,” Wing Commander (Retd) Gautam Guha lashed out.
The Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement must complain to the President and the Election Commission of India to debar Khan from contesting polls, the former officer said, adding that Chief of the Army Staff General Bikram Singh should lodge a protest to the ECI, President, Premier and Defence Minister and the other service chiefs must do likewise.
“Khan has crossed the line and directly insulted the patriotic Armed Forces personnel who laid down their lives for the Tricolour and the people as Indians first and Indians last. People first, mission always,” the veteran said.