Parrikar's remarks a direct insult to soldiers: Congress

Charging the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of speaking with a forked tongue, the Congress Party on Thursday said that despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioning his cabinet colleagues and the ruling party not to indulge in chest thumping over the surgical strike, they were exactly doing that.

"The Prime Minister, his party president (Ajit Shah) and his Defence Minister (Manohar Parrikar) are speaking with forked tongues. The prime minister said there should not be any chest thumping, but that is exactly what is happening," senior Congress leader Anand Sharma told ANI.

Commenting on Parrikar's statement that "no surgical strikes were conducted in the past", Sharma described it as a 'direct insult to the sacrifices' made by soldiers dying in the line of duty.

"The Defence Minister's saying that it is the first time in 29 years that a prime minister has made the Indian Army realise its prowess, is a direct insult to the sacrifices of hundreds of martyrs of the Indian armed forces and equally demeaning and insulting to the supreme sacrifices of the Kargil heroes," he said.

"I want to ask the defence minister what happened in Kargil? Did the Indian Army not realize its prowess? If he has not read history, he should be taught that the Indian Army after independence has done so repeatedly," he said.

Sharma said, "He (Parrikar) is party to a propaganda, which is actually building up hysteria and jingoism in the country, which is a disservice to India."

"The entire country spoke in one voice across the political spectrum, saluting our armed forces for their valour and courage for undertaking the strike. Nobody has doubted the statement of the DGMO, Lt. Gen. Ranbir Singh, we supported the government for the decision, but it should not have been politicised," he added.