Some playing politics and humiliating Army by questioning surgical strikes, says BJP President.
Some playing politics and humiliating Army by questioning surgical strikes, says BJP President.
New Delhi: To keep surgical strikes distant from politics, the government left the announcement of action to the Army, BJP president Amit Shah said on Friday.
“We wanted this strike to be distant from politics. That's why the press conference was addressed by the Army. However, some people are playing politics and humiliating the Army by questioning surgical strikes,” said Shah.
“DGMO (Director General of Military Operations) Ranbir Singh had briefed reporters about soldiers travelling into Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir for carrying out operation and not Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar,” he added.
Opposition leaders, who had initially praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the surgical strikes, later accused him and his government for taking credit for Army’s action. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had asked the government to present proof of the strikes, which have been denied by Pakistan. Sources said the government is not likely to take any hasty decision on releasing the evidence.
-"We condemn the politicisation of the strikes and uproar in Pakistan is enough to prove that surgical strikes have taken place,-" said the BJP President.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sought to rein in his colleagues’ sabre-rattling in the face of Opposition naysayers by instructing his ministerial colleagues to restrain themselves and avoid creating hysteria around the sensitive issue of surgical strikes.
Modi’s reaction to the on-going political slugfest over the surgical strikes came during the Cabinet meeting, while the feasibility of releasing some evidence of the strikes was being deliberated upon. The PM said only authorised people should speak on the matter.
(This copy first appeared in Deccan Chronicle)
