India-Saudi statement mentions Pak talks but not Pulwama: Digvijay

Congress veteran Digvijay Singh Friday asked why the India-Saudi Arabia joint statement had a mention of dialogue with Pakistan, but not the Pulwama terror attack which killed 40 CRPF men and asserted the Centre had not answered many questions related to the strike.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister alleged that the Centre was not serious about tackling terror.

"I am unable to understand till date who has measured his (Modi's) chest (a barb at 56-inch chest comment). The PM has not taken the issue as seriously as he should have," he claimed.

Singh alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy shooting for a film when the attack took place on February 14.

"The day this incident took place..it was known by 3.30 pm... he (Modi) was in Jim Corbett Park, busy in a film shooting. It was an emergency and he should have come back to Delhi by leaving all work and should have declared national mourning," he told reporters here.

The BJP has hit back on the Congress for it's allegations that Modi was shooting for a film, saying the party has "no face" to raise questions over the prime minister's nationalism.

"He should have called an emergency meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, but did not do so. Such a big convoy was going and Jaish-e-Mohammad had already announced that suicide bombing will take place, but no action was taken," Singh alleged.

"Checking was done at every 10-15 km and how was the 3.5 quintal of explosive material not caught? The government has not yet answered all these issues which is very unfortunate," he said.

The Rajya Sabha MP asked why there was no mention of the Pulwama terror attack in the India-Saudi Arabia joint statement during the visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"If someone says in today's atmosphere that talks with Pakistan must go on then it creates a lot of furore and that person is termed as anti-national.

"But when Saudi Arabia's Prince had visited India, then a pact (joint statement) was inked in which it was mentioned that dialogue with Pakistan should take place. Nothing was said about Pulwama," he said.

Singh asked if the prime minister under some kind of pressure.

"What was the pressure from Saudi Arabia on India that compelled it to sign on a pact that talked of continuing dialogue with Pakistan. All these things are now coming out," the Congress leader said.

Answering a question, Singh said the Congress never does any politics on issues of terrorism and national security.

"No other political party has suffered as much as Congress because of terrorism. Both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were victims of terrorism, an issue on which the Congress has never compromised," Singh asserted.

"Jaswant Singh (then foreign minister) and Ajit Doval (then IB chief) had escorted (JeM chief) Masood Azhar to Afghanistan (as part of swap for release of passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines flight)," Singh said.

Earlier, Singh condoled the death of senior party leader and former MLA Mohan Singh Bundela. He paid floral tributes to Bundela at his residence in the presence of Congress leaders.