Digvijaya Singh's controversial remarks on surgical strike: In a major development, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has now raised serious questions on Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government over the 2019 Pulwama attack wherein 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a terrorist attack. Also, Singh on Monday termed the surgical strike against Pakistan "a bogus claim" by the Bhartiya Janata Party and added "there was no proof" to authenticate their claims.
It is worth mentioning that New Delhi, on September 2016, announced that it conducted surgical strikes against militant launch pads across the Line of Control in Pakistani-occupied Kashmir, and inflicted "significant casualties.
"There is no proof"
While addressing a public rally in Jammu and Kashmir, he said, "They (Centre) talk about surgical strikes and that they have killed so many of them but there is no proof." "The Centre is ruling with the help of lies. I want to tell you that this country belongs to all of us," added the Madhya Pradesh former chief minister.
During the rally, the veteran Congress leader claimed that the 2019 terror attack could have been averted had the vehicle, which launched the attack on the CRPF been checked properly. "Why did they die? CRPF director had sought for airlifting of CRPF personnel from Srinagar to Delhi as the area was a sensitive one but PM Modi declined the request. Why did he decline?" Singh questioned.
No information was given in the Parliament
Alleging that Pulwama has become the centre of terrorism, he said, "Every car is checked in the area. Why on that particular day was the Scorpio car not checked? A vehicle comes from the wrong direction. Why it was not checked? The vehicle was checked and soon it collided with the CRPF van and 40 of our CRPF were killed. "Until now, the information related to the incident had not been given in the Parliament, nor are the people aware of it," Singh said.
Congress distanced itself from DiGi's comments
Hours after Digvijaya's remarks sparked a major controversy, Congress distanced itself from its veteran leader's comments and said it was his personal opinion and did not reflect the stand of the grand old party. Taking to the microblogging site, senior leader Jairam Ramesh said that Congress has supported and will continue to support all military actions that are in the national interest.
"The views expressed by senior leader Digvijaya Singh are his own and do not reflect the position of Congress. Surgical strikes were carried out before 2014 by UPA government. Congress has supported & will continue to support all military actions that are in the national interest," he wrote on Twitter.
Interestingly, this came nearly a week after a top National Conference (NC) leader raised grave questions on the "intention of the Modi government behind the "tailored" Uri and the Pulwama attack". NC's Additional General Secretary Sheikh Mustafa Kamal had alleged that both attacks were well-planned by the Central government. Mustafa alleged that none of the soldiers' bodies or images was found following the brutal attacks.
What happened on 14 February 2019?
However, while addressing a press conference following the deadly attack, the then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman explained that 2,500 soldiers were returning in at least 70 vehicles. According to Sitharaman, many of the soldiers were returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley. However, the convoy was targeted by a vehicle driven by a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist identified as Aadil Ahmad Dar. As per the defence ministry, 80 kilograms of high-grade RDX explosive was used in the suicide attack.
