BJP slams Cong for politicising the sacrifice of soldiers

Accusing Congress of "politicising" the sacrifice of seven soldiers who died in Nagrota terror attack, BJP today slammed the party for walking out of Lok Sabha after claiming that their demand for paying obituaries to the soldiers was rejected by the Speaker.
"I am very sorry, it is rank falsehood. Speaker said we will hold a proper obituary for them. The combing is going on. Let entire facts be there. (But) Rahul Gandhi and his party were not willing to accept that...Can't we have one voice as far as sacrifice of our brave soldiers are concerned. I am pained," senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said outside the Parliament.

Earlier, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said that the Opposition had walked out of Lok Sabha as this was for the first time that there was no obituary offered for those soldiers who had died in a terror attack.
Countering Gandhi's allegation, Prasad said, "Rahul Gandhi, I would appealed to you, the kind of family legacy you represent, at least in certain issues there must be unison in polity of the country...Making political comments on sacrifice and valour of brave jawaans and officers is not a right tradition."
Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu also slammed the Congress, saying, "That was really unfortunate. This is unbecoming of Congress party...You start doing politics, that's really unfortunate".

He said the Speaker had informed that combing operations were underway in Nagrota and once they were over, tribute will be paid in the House to the soldiers.

Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore said it is "extremely sad" that the issue was "being politicised".
"I find the Opposition has become so lame that they need crutches of fallen soldiers to stand on. Everyone respects the sacrifice that the armed forces are making and the country stands by them and their families," he said.
He reiterated that the speaker had "clearly mentioned" that "we are waiting for the combing operation to get over" and after that all the necessary steps would be taken.

Earlier, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge slammed the government for not making obituary reference in connection with the Nagrota attack.
"It is the duty of the government to inform to the Speaker (about the incident)...The condolences cannot be done in installments...Are you going to wait for what is going to happen tomorrow? These are emotional issues. You condole road accident, railway accident, house collapse, why not in this case?" Kharge asked.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien, however,
said, the Opposition had proposed obituary for not only 27 soldiers who died in Uri and Nagrota terror attacks but also for those 83 people who allegedly died due to hardship they faced after demonetisation announcement on November 8.

"We proposed that there should be a obituary reference for these 27 (soldiers), including seven yesterday, and there should be a obituary reference also for the 83 people who have died since demonetisation was announced because of the torture they have been through.
"The government thought it best to dismiss this. This is a government who are now living in their own world, far from reality," he said.
Meanwhile, Congress MP and party general secretary Digvijay Singh said that every effort should be made to see that India-Pakistan dialogue is open.
"My party and I personally always held that with the neighbour, we should always be open. We can't have a situation of no dialogue with our neighbour.

"As Atal Bihari Vajpayee had rightly pointed out that we can't choose our neighbours and that's a reality. Therefore, we should make every effort to see that dialogue must be open with our neighbour," he said.