The Congress on Sunday protested against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s attempt to raise the issue of beheading of Indian soldiers at a political rally in Pathankot, describing his remarks as “malicious” and aimed to “demotivate” the armed forces currently engaged in massive relief operations in Uttarakhand.
Party General Secretary and recently anointed head of the Communications Department of AICC Ajay Maken termed Modi’s statement as unfortunate. “People of this country are keenly watching how personal ambitions of a politician in Narendra Modi can make him use such words,” Maken said.
While addressing a political rally in Pathankot, Modi questioned the Prime Minister for treating the then Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf to a lavish lunch in Jaipur weeks after Indian soldiers were beheaded by Pakistanis near the line of Control (lOC).
Diverting attention from the issue, Maken described Modi’s remarks as “unfortunate and malicious to say the least”. “Many of his utterances, particularly references to national security should have been avoided at a juncture when our Army is saving lives in Uttarakhand. This will demotivate our armed forces, which at this moment are single mindedly pursuing relief operations in Uttarakhand,” he said.
Praising the Army for its ongoing rescue operation in the flood-hit Uttarakhand, Maken said it was surprising to see the Gujarat Chief Minister, as claimed by a leading newspaper, to have “played the role of Rambo” and saving 15,000 lives in a day. “This is not a time for politicising a disaster and least for a political credit taking exercise,” Maken added.
“At this juncture, instead of credit taking exercise, the whole country should be united and political parties should concentrate only on relief activity than one-upmanship,”
he added.
At the Pathankot rally, Modi had demanded Prime Minister to respond on the action taken since the fatal assault on Indian prisoner Sarabjeet Singh by fellow prisoners in Pakistani jail.
In the backdrop of Modi’s visit to Uttarakhand, Maken said that Congress leaders also visited State but “without any fanfare”.
AICC Treasurer Motilal Vora and General Secretary Ambika Soni were in State on Sunday to coordinate relief material from across the country while Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to flag off a consignment of relief material from Delhi on Monday, he added.