A day after Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam questioned the authenticity of the “surgical strikes” carried out by the Indian Army on terror bases in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), the Shiv Sena on Wednesday rooted for slapping of sedition charges against Nirupam and sought his immediate removal from his current party post. With no let in the criticism of Nirupam over his controversial tweet suggesting that the “surgical strikes” undertaken by the Indian Army in PoK last week could be “fake”, Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande targeted the Mumbai Congress chief who, she alleged, had “disgraced” the nation in front of world, by questioning the authenticity of India’s military action on the Pakistani terror camps.
“We demand that a sedition case be slapped against Nirupam as he is toeing the line of an enemy nation which says surgical strikes never took place. He has disgraced the nation in front of world leaders. We also advise the Congress to sack Nirupam from his post as the Mumbai Congress chief. He does not deserve to be in the post since we cannot expect person like him who does not have any respect for our Army to respect the country and its people,” she said.
Meanwhile, Nirupam came in for severe flak from his own party leader. Charging that Nirupam should not have politicized the “surgical attacks”, senior Congress functionary Arif Naseem Khan said: “All parties are one as long as the country’s unity and security is concerned. Also, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice—president (Rahul Gandhi) have made their stand very clear on this issue. There is no reason for other party leaders like Nirupamji to take a different stand over the issue. It is not right to use this sensitive issue for political gains”.
Khan is the second Mumbai Congress leader to have openly criticized Nirupam for his controversial statement. On Tuesday, senior Congress leader Gurudas Kamat had hit out at Nirupam for “abusing” his position to embarrass the party and the country through his controversial tweet questioning the authenticity of the "surgival strikes" carried by the Indian Army in PoK.
In two tweets put out during the day, Kamat had said: “Honble Congress President Sonia Gandhi & VP Rahul Gandhi had complimented the Indian Army & the Govt for Surgical Strikes against Pakistan… No one else in Congress should abuse their positions to embarrass the Party and the Country. #loveYourArmy #TrustYour
Meanwhile, the civil society members, including former Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, Anandini Thakur, RTI activist Bhaskar Prabhu and others pulled out as panelists from an event organized by him. The “boycott”of the event by the civil society members was in protest against Nirupam’s controversial remarks.
Charging that the ruling BJP was trying to politicise the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army along the line of Control (loC) last week, Nirupam had on Tuesday justified his controversial “fake” analogy tweet, by saying that till such time “substantial proof” was not provided by the Government, doubts would persist in the international circles about the authenticity of the “surgical strikes”.
Nirupam had also cast aspersions on the credentials of the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) who had made a formal announcement on Wednesday last about the surgical strikes undertaken by the Indian Army on terror camps in PoK. “Even in the past, the Indian Army had carried surgical strikes in PoK. But, at no point in time, DGMO had made an announcement about the strikes at a press conference. My question is: who asked the DGMO to convene a press conference to make an announcement about the surgical strikesIJ Who were those political leaders that wanted DGMO to make an announcement at a press conference so that they could derive political mileage out of it,” Nirupam had said.