New Delhi: Ratcheting up the debate on Pulwama, Congress on Thursday announced setting up of a task force on national security, led by Lt Gen D.S. Hooda (Retd) of surgical strike fame, even as it attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for continuing with shooting a film in the Corbett National Park on February 14, despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day.
Lt Gen Hooda (Retd) had commanded over the “surgical strikes” against militants in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir post Uri. He has since said that the constant hype of “surgical strikes” was unwarranted and had cautioned against its politicisation.
Congress sources said that at a meeting with top party leaders this morning, Congress president Rahul Gandhi also asked workers to visit as many household who have lost lives in the Pulwama massacre as they could.
Launching a parallel attack on the Prime Minister, for his “propaganda and publicity”, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said: “In his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten “raj dharma”.
Mr Surjewala gave a timeline of events claiming the terror attack happened at 3.10 pm on February 14 with the Congress reacting to it at 5.15 pm, but the Prime Minister continued to shoot a film for Discovery Channel for “self propagation in the Corbett National Park in Ramnagar”.
“The Prime Minister continues to have tea, samosas at seven o’clock at government expense in a PWD guesthouse when every single Indian household didn’t have food,” he alleged.
Mr Surjewala also accused BJP president Amit Shah of “politicisation of terrorism” in his speech in Assam on Sunday.
At a public rally in Assam’s Lakhimpur district, Mr Shah had said the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not “compromise” on any security issue.
“Can such a conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country. The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films,” he said. The Congress spokesperson also slammed Mr Modi for receiving Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the airport and asked whether according a grand welcome to “those who praised” Pakistan’s “anti-terror efforts” was his way of remembering the Pulwama attack victims.
Hitting back, the BJP said that after maintaining a “facade” of standing with the government and the armed forces, the Congress has shown its “true colours” and the contents of the opposition party’s spokesperson and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan “bears a striking resemblance.”
Accusing the Congress of seeking to weaken the morale of the armed forces at a time when the whole world is “firmly standing” with India, Union law minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said despite the “canards” spread by the opposition, the “nation has faith in Mr Modi’s ability to secure the country and well his leadership.”
Targetting the Congress for its “shameful” attack on the Prime Minister, Mr Prasad said that on the day Pulwama attack took place, Mr Modi was in Uttarakhand on a scheduled official programme related to tiger conservation.
“Was the Congress aware of the Pulwama attack? We were not aware,” said Mr Prasad
