BJP Accuses Congress on Rafale: Accusing it of demoralising the Indian armed forces, the BJP on Monday took on the Congress after its Uttar Pradesh chief, Ajay Rai, exhibited a toy aeroplane with lemons and chillies, supposed to exemplify Rafale fighter jets kept in hangars, and questioned when India would take the next step against Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack. On Sunday, Rai accused the BJP-led Centre of merely “talking big” and questioned when the Rafale jets, which were “sitting adorned with nimbu and mirch (to ward off the evil eye according to Hindu rituals)” would be pressed into service. “You brought the Rafale, which is parked with nimbu-mirch…I have not put the nimbu and mirch on them, the Central government did so, the Raksha Mantri has adorned them with nimbu mirchi.
When will these be used, when will you wipe out terrorists and those who support terrorism?” Rai asked. Story continues below this ad “The country wants to know this, those whose families were wiped out, whose children were martyred, their family members…want to know. This is why I have exhibited this (toy plane), to underline that it is time to use them and not to keep them parked with nimbu-mirchi,” he had added.
Underlining tensions on the Line of Control, where the Pakistan Army is committing ceasefire violations on every opportunity, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi accused leaders from the Congress and those from its INDIA bloc allies of “continuously targeting the Indian Army through the ammunition of their statements” from within the country’s borders. Trivedi also compared the INDIA bloc of Opposition parties with Pakistan, which officially maintains that it is “peace-loving” but carries out anti-India activities. “If the Pakistan Army believes that it can demoralise the Indian Army through such incidents, I believe that with the same intention, the INDI alliance and Congress leaders take to bombarding the Indian Army with their statements,” he told a press conference.
Story continues below this ad “On the one hand, the Congress and INDI alliance leaders wear the mask of standing united with the government (of India), on the other, one after the other, their leaders give statements which are anti-India and seek to demoralise the Indian Army…I say with sorrow that this is similar to Pakistan undertaking its activities here but officially maintaining the stand that it has nothing to do with such actions, that it wants peace,” he added. Similarly, he alleged that the INDIA bloc’s stand was that it was united with the government but their senior leaders–including Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah, former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi and now UP Congress president Ajay Rai–were giving such statements. During its tenure, there had not been a single instance of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government cancelling bilateral conversations with Pakistan over terrorist incidents, he alleged.
On the other hand, there has not been a single instance of the Narendra Modi-led government opting bilateral peace talks with Pakistan. “This is proof of how differently both think. I am pained by the statements being given by the Congress…Ajay Rai ji…tried to poke fun by showing a toy plane with Rafale written on it and nimbu mirchis…I want to tell the people of the country that just a few days before this, in the same Uttar Pradesh, the Rafale landed and took off from the Ganga Expressway–which was a direct answer to Pakistan and the enemies of our nation,” he said.
Story continues below this ad “Sitting on the same banks of the Ganga, the Congress party’s state chief makes fun of the same Rafale jet. This proves what the mentality of the Congress is…yes, it is believed in the Hindu tradition that nimbu-mirchi wards off the evil eye. But today, the Indian Army does not need protection from Pakistan’s evil eye; Pakistan’s Army is looking at the Indian Army with fear, but these INDI alliance and Congress leaders are doing so with an evil eye,” he added.
While Pakistan was experiencing fear due to the roar of the Rafale, such statements were seeking to demoralise the Indian Armed forces, he alleged. Recalling that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had drawn the traditional Hindu symbol of the Swastika on the Rafale after these had been purchased in France, Trivedi added that such rituals were part of proceedings in the Indian Armed forces. “Perhaps they do not know that in the Indian Army, procedurally, religious teachers are appointed.
When our soldiers go to war, whatever their religious traditions and rituals allow for and practices in line with their religious beliefs are followed…I want to ask the Congress, what is it that you are actually making fun of?” he asked. “Are you making fun of the Hindu faith?…they should know that each regiment has a traditional religious war cry…today, the Congress and the INDI alliance have become like the fifth columnists of the Spanish Civil War…Pakistan is stronger than us in only one respect – that not even a single one of their leaders is trying to demoralize their forces, but there is string of such statements from our leaders here,” he added. Story continues below this ad The Pakistani media, he also alleged, was naming not only Indian political parties but specific leaders as those who were “not with Modi”.
Asking the Opposition to mend its ways, Trivedi cited instances such as PM Modi, who was then Gujarat CM, taking on the then Pakistan PM, Nawaz Sharif, for his comments against former Indian PM Manmohan Singh in 2011-12. In 1995, when Pakistan had sought to bring in a proposal against India in the United Nations, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as Leader of Opposition, went to the United Nations General Assembly as the head of the Indian delegation against it and in favour of the Narasimha Rao government. “Benazir Bhutto had expressed surprise at the fact that Indian was one such nation where the Opposition was supporting the government…today, whether it is the (Pakistani) government or the Opposition, both are supporting their army but in India, the Opposition in trying to demoralise the Indian armed forces,” Trivedi alleged.
“What is happening is sad…worthy of condemnation. We want to assure the nation, that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji, as he has said, the criminals behind this incident (the Pahalgam attack) will be hunted down to every corner of the world and will be punished in a way that it is unprecedented,” Trivedi said, appealing to the Opposition not to seek to “lower the morale of the defence forces and that of the nation”.
