Claiming that Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ is turning out to be a “Bharat todo yatra’, the BJP on Tuesday slammed the former Congress president for dismissing his party colleague Digvijaya Singh's controversial comments on surgical strikes as his "personal opinion" and asked the Opposition party to make its stand clear on the issues of terrorism and national security.
Latching on to former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister ‘s Digvijaya Singh for raising questions on surgical strikes during the ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo yatra’ passing by Jammu & Kashmir, the BJP alleged that Congress has been “disrespectful’ to the armed forces and been making “insulting” remarks against them in the past.
Addressing a press conference here senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked as why Rahul could not convince Digvijaya who he said been with him since the beginning of the ‘Yatra’ from Kanya Kumari his party’s view on the issue and “Why did Rahul Gandhi take so long to publicly declare his respect for the armed forces”.
"Rahul Gandhi ji, even after walking thousands of kilometers with you, why couldn't you teach Digvijaya Singh to respect the Army? This is not the first time he (Singh) has spoken against the Army. This time he did it in Kashmir, it is a matter of great shame," said BJP leader. He lashed-out at Rahul for dismissing Digvijaya Singh's controversial comments on surgical strikes as his "personal opinion".
Referring to former Chief Minister raising questions on surgical strikes , Prasad said the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ of which Digvijaya Singh is also a co-organizer “is turning-out to be a ‘Bharat todo yatra’ The BJP leader also asked the Congress to make its stand clear on the issues of terrorism and national security. Prasad said the Congress has a habit of projecting uncomfortable views of its leaders as their personal views and asked if there is any limit to such opinion.
"The question is what is the standard of these leaders when it comes to respecting our armed forces. Indians do not seek proof of their heroics but salute them," Prasad told reporters, noting that Singh has a history of taking controversial stands, be it visiting families of suspected terrorists killed in the Batla House encounter or praising radical Islamic preacher Zakir Naik.
Attacking Gandhi for his "vacillating" stand on armed forces, he also cited some of his previous remarks, including a recent comment in Dausa during the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ questioning the government's handling of the border standoff with China and claim that the Chinese were "beating up" Indian soldiers.
He had used the "khoon ki dalali" barb after the 2016 surgical strikes to attack the Modi government and gone to the Jawaharlal Nehru University to extend moral support to "tukde tukde gang", Prasad said.
Why it took him so many years to say publicly that he respects armed forces, the BJP leader asked. He should have also said "sorry" for what he had said earlier, Prasad added.
He also took a swipe at the Congress for questioning the BJP’s credibility on the press freedom and questioned Congress General Secretary in-charge of Communications, Publicity and Media Jairam Ramesh for physically preventing a journalist from asking questions to Singh on his statement about the surgical strikes and the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
Rahul on Tuesday said he and the Congress do not agree with Singh's comments on surgical strikes and that the armed forces do not need to give any proof. Meanwhile, amid a controversy over Digvijaya Singh's comments on surgical strikes, another BJP leader and Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju shared a video of retired Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar stating that the Balakot air strike was a "thumping success". Sharing the video clip on Twitter, Rijiju said, "This is the reply to Congress party and all those who question the Indian Armed Forces."
In the video, Nambiar, who retired as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Command of the Indian Air Force in 2019, said the pilots who carried out the air strike at Balakot achieved "all objectives" that had been set.
"This gentleman does not know what he is talking about... I took over as the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Air Command two days after the Balakot air strike, and I am fully aware of what transpired," the retired Air Marshal said, referring to Singh.
"Let me assure you our brave pilots did exactly as they were briefed and achieved all objectives we had set for them. Please do not believe any lie, and rest assured Balakot air strike was a thumping success," he said.
The Balakot air strike was carried out in response to the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.