The Congress came out in defence of its vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday, even as the BJP top brass attacked him for criticising the Modi government for politically exploiting the surgical strikes on terror camps across the LoC.
The Modi government was politicising the army’s efforts, he said, adding, “Please stop this poster baazi. Let the army do its job like it has been doing. Amit Shah has said his party will take this surgical strike to the people: this clearly shows they want to politicise the matter.”
He also held up a notice issued by the Election Commission to the BJP in 2013 for using the images of armed forces in its “political propaganda”. The EC, he reminded the ruling party, had then stated that the armed forces are apolitical and neutral stakeholders in a democracy and those politicians should exercise great caution in referring to the armed forces.
If the BJP was so concerned about the army, he continued, then why did they lower the combat pension? “Is this how you are standing with them, by not making OROP happen — is that how you show your support?” he asked.
Of course, even as the party made a public defence of Mr Gandhi’s statement, a party functionary said: “We are with Rahulji on the sentiments he expressed. But maybe he should not have used the word dalal (broker) as that has helped the BJP to misinterpret what he said.”
Mr Sibal also made a frontal attack on Mr Shah: “People who are named in murder cases are saying our roots are tainted. I didn’t expect the BJP to stoop so low that its leadership will have to point fingers at those who gave us independence. Convicted people are giving lectures; we thought the government had no experience in governance; now we know it has no experience in making statements.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Sibal said, should speak out and advise Mr Shah that indulging in political bickering is harmful for democracy.
On the issue of the BJP claiming that the Indian army crossed the LoC for the first time on September 29, when it carried out surgical strikes, Mr Sibal asked, "Who crossed the LoC in 1965, ‘71 and 1999? Did Modi, Amit Shah or Parrikar cross the LoC? Does the Indian history start from 2014?"
He also took the BJP to task for forgetting all these dates in Indian history and accused the party of exploiting the Indian Army's strikes. “We didn't politicise Kargil,” he said.
