The Trinamool Congress has once again questioned the true outcome of the Indian air strike in Pakistan’s Balakot where according to BJP president Amit Shah at least 250 Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorists were killed in a pre-dawn attack by the Indian fighter jets.
Questioning the domino effect of the air attack senior TMC MP Derek O’Brien said a senior Minister in the Narendra Modi Government had in fact planted the story in the media about the number of deaths in the JeM camp. “Who gave this news about the numbers … whether it was 200 or 250?” the Rajya Sabha MP asked saying he was sure “a senior Minister in the Cabinet planted this news,” specifying the number of terrorists who died in the air strike.
“I don’t blame the media for this news. I only say that this news was planted by a Minister,” he said adding “this kind of statement is dangerous” in the political theatre. The senior parliamentarian’s statement came days after Mamata Banerjee expressed her doubts about the exact figure of those getting killed in the air attack.
“We don’t want anyone to play politics with the blood of our martyred jawans. We only want the truth to come out,” Banerjee had said demanding the truth behind the air operation. “I have come to know from some foreign media that it was a miss. Some said that no one died while others said that only person lost his life,” she said adding “we want to know how much truth is there in the claim of the Government,” and questioning why the Prime Minister avoided an all-party meeting to brief the Opposition parties about the success of the air raid.
With Bengal Governor Kesri Nath Tripathi subsequently using innuendos to attack those who were questioning the veracity of the air strikes, or for that matter its fallout, likening them to “snakes in the sleeves,” Bengal TMC leadership on Monday went all guns blazing against Tripathi wondering how a man on a constitutional post could make such comments.