New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday claimed that as many as 6 surgical strikes were carried out when the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government was in power and criticized the BJP for politicizing the armed forces. Hitting back at the Congress, the BJP accused the opposition party of making “fraudulent and farcical” statements and reiterated that the UPA never allowed armed forces to act against terror.
The Congress today released a list of six UPA-era “surgical strikes” at a press conference in the national capital and asserted that it has used military operations for political gains.
“The UPA government carried out six surgical strikes- Bhattal sector in Poonch (June 19, 2008); Sharda sector, across Neelam River Valley, in Kel (August 30- September 1, 2011); Sawan Patra checkpost (January 6, 2013); Nazapir sector (July 27-28, 2013); Neelam Valley (August 6, 2013); and one on December 23, 2013,” Congress spokesperson Rajeev Shukla said.
In a quick rejoinder, the BJP dismissed the opposition party’s claims as “fraudulent” and said that under the Manmohan government, forces were never even allowed to take punitive action against terrorists.
“It is a farcical and fraudulent claim. We have the greatest of respect for our armed forces. Our forces were capable of carrying out surgical strikes across the LoC, inside Pakistan, but they were not allowed to do so when the UPA was in power,” BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said.
Referring to the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, Rao said, “… the then Air Chief Marshal had asked then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to give permission for conducting an airstrike across the LoC or inside Pakistan and it was denied. The Congress is guilty of not allowing punitive attacks against terror.”
Dismissing the claims made by the Congress, Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said he is well awere of what happened and what did not happen since he has served in the military.
“They should keep it with themselves. I was in the military so I am aware of what happened or what didn’t happen,” Rahtore was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The Congress’s list of surgical strikes comes after BJP leader Arun Jaitley took a jibe at the opposition party, saying its surgical strikes were “invisible and unknown”.
The UPA government in fact released 25 terrorists as a “goodwill gesture” and one of them was later involved in the Pathankot terror attack, Jaitley had alleged.
