Parrikar, Shah politicising army's sacrifices, should apologise: Congress

The Congress on Wednesday accused Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and BJP President Amit Shah of seeking to make political capital out of the Indian Army's sacrifices and demanded that they apologise for this.

The Congress said the onus lies on Prime Minister Narender Modi to tame -- what the opposition party said were belligerent -- Defence Minister and the BJP President.

Parrikar on Wednesday said a major share of the credit for the surgical strikes across the Line of Control in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir goes to Modi.

"Parrikar claimed that the Modi government made the army realise its prowess and strength for the first time. Shah lied to the nation and disgracefully undermined the sacrifices of our armed forces by proclaiming that the army has crossed the LoC for the first time in 68 years under the Modi government," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

Surjewala said it did not behove of a Defence Minister to insult the armed forces' sacrifices and valour by shamelessly denying the fact of earlier surgical strikes.

"Blinded by his efforts to garner votes from the sacrifices of our soldiers, Parrikar is unabashedly lying and misleading the people. He is free to give credit to anyone, but should abstain from undermining the huge sacrifices made by our armed forces in the last 68 years," he said.

The Congress leader asked Parrikar to apologise for his statement which the former said was insulting to our armed forces.

"This distasteful commentary, unending public felicitations of the Defence Minister in Goa, Agra and Lucknow and converting national security into an event management exercise to polish the Prime Minister's image is unfortunate and reflects the BJP's desperation," said Surjewala.

"Parrikar has dangerously attempted to belittle their contribution and is dividing the armed forces on political lines," he added.

--IANS

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