After Pakistan minister's Pulwama admission, PM Modi hits at opposition
From Kevadia, Gujarat, where he went to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the opposition for their stand on the Pulwama attack, after a minister from Pakistan admitted his country's hand in the dastardly crime. PM Modi urged the opposition to not indulge in politics in matters of national security. Here are more details.
During a debate on Thursday, while singing tunes about his country's premier Imran Khan, Science & Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry labeled Pulwama attack a success. "Humne Hindustan ko ghus ke maara (We hit India in their home). Our success in Pulwama, is a success of this nation under the leadership of Imran Khan. You and us are all part of that success," Chaudhry said.
Notably, Chaudhry was replying to a comment made by PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq. "I remember Shah Mahmood Qureshi was in the meeting which Imran Khan had refused to attend and Chief of Army Staff General Bajwa came into the room, his legs were shaking. Foreign Minister said for God's sake let Abhinandan go, India's about to attack Pakistan at 9 PM," Sadiq said.
Naturally, Chaudhry's admission about the Pulwama attack created quite a furor in India, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opining that those who raised questions at the time must apologize. Taking the same tone, PM Modi said the news from the neighboring country has exposed the real faces of many. They can go to any extent to score political points, he added.
He urged political parties to not indulge in politics when national security and morale of armed forces are concerned. "For your selfishness, you will not be able to interest the country nor your party by playing in the hands of anti-national forces, knowingly or unknowingly," PM Modi added. To recall, 40 CRPF soldiers were martyred on February 14, 2019, in the Jaish-orchestrated Pulwama attack.
Yesterday, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar also demanded an apology from Congress, tweeting, "Pakistan has admitted its hand behind Pulwama terror attack. Now, Congress and others who talked of conspiracy theories must apologize to the country." The BJP upped its attack on Congress, over the Pulwama attack, after party's ex-President Rahul Gandhi wondered "who benefited from it" on the first anniversary of the incident.
Tagging a news story based on Javadekar's demand, Congress' Shashi Tharoor tweeted that he couldn't understand why his party is being asked to apologize. "For expecting the government to keep our soldiers safe? For rallying around the flag rather than politicizing a national tragedy? For expressing condolences to the families of our martyrs?" asked Tharoor in a tweet.
I am also still waiting for the official inquiry into this tragedy to give the nation answers to these vital questions. Pakistani perfidy is not news. The Modi government providing honest explanations for these queries would be news indeed: pic.twitter.com/3Qa3A9Jkg5
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) October 31, 2020
