Politics over surgical strikes intensifies

NEW DELHI: Congress has sharpened its attack on PM Narendra Modi and the BJP-led Union government for allegedly exploiting last month's cross-border surgical strikes for political mileage.

A highly charged political slugfest has been underway over the Army's anti-terror operation, and it seems to be only intensifying as the elections for five states, including Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, draw closer.

On a day Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's controversial "khoon ki dalali" remark was defended by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, the party also sought an apology from PM Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah and for "politicising the surgical strikes".

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said on Monday that contrary to the claims of Shah and BJP, evidence available in the public domain revealed that the Army had carried out strikes across the Line of Control under UPA too. Congress said BJP was playing politics with the martyrdom of soldiers and looking for electoral gains in Punjab and UP.

Surjewala accused Union defence minister Manohar Parrikar of being "busy attending felicitation ceremonies over the strikes when the families of the (Uri attack) martyrs were still mourning their dead". The opposition party also accused BJP of hypocrisy, saying the Centre had slashed the disability pension for Army personnel while claiming to respect soldiers.

UP CM Yadav, meanwhile, said that Rahul "must have had his reasons" for accusing Modi of doing "khoon ki dalali (seeking political mileage from soldiers' deaths)". "If he has said that, he must have done so after giving it due thought...," he said when asked about the remark.

"I visited some of the martyrs' houses... it is the poor who are dying. What do they know about surgical strikes?" Akhilesh added.


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