In a clear indication that he was opposed to anyone politicising India’s surgical strikes across the line of Control (loC), Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have cautioned his Cabinet colleagues against creating hysteria over the military action.
During the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Modi is understood to have told his ministerial colleagues that only authorised people should speak on the issue of surgical strikes and others should avoid speaking to the media or at any other platform out-of-turn, said sources.
Modi’s observations came after some of his Ministers briefed the media about the military operations in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. In the morning, Hansraj Ahir, Minister of State for Home Affairs, kicked up a controversy by saying that the Army has already submitted a video proof of the surgical strikes to the Government and it was for the Prime Minister to decide whether the footage should be made public or not.
“The PM will take a decision on whether to release the video handed over to the Government by the Army,” he said.
Ahir went on to say that the Government will follow all established procedures. “The Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) briefed the media (about the surgical strikes). It was not the Defence Minister nor the Prime Minister and not the Home Minister. It was the DGMO who briefed (the media). That was the right thing to do and they (Army) did it.
“There was a time when written documents were submitted. Now the times have changed. Now clips are given and the clips have been given,” Ahir told reporters in Mumbai.
Sources said Modi expressed his displeasure during the Cabinet meeting and the subsequent Cabinet Committee on Security meeting on the out-of-turn comments by some colleagues.
Ahir’s statement has not gone down well with the Government because it implies that the Army did not mind if the Prime Minister gave the green signal for the release of the tape of the surgical strikes. While the Army has not commented on Ahir’s statement, former Army Generals have strongly come out against the release of the tape.
Former Army chief Gen VP Malik slammed those questioning the credibility of the strikes saying, “The video should not be released just because some stupid people have sought so.”
He told PTI it was “utter nonsense” that people are asking the Army to prove the operation and wondered what was wrong with the political class. “Only the Army should take a call on whether to release the video or not and when,” he said.