People have right to ask what was achieved in Balakot airstrikes: Ansari

Former vice president Hamid Ansari Tuesday said people have the right to ask about what was done and achieved in the Balakot airstrikes and the government should answer such questions.

He said the Narendra Modi government has a mixed record and though it started on a high note, the fulfilment of the promises it made is some distance away.

"Instead, it has been taken over by a rhetoric of a certain kind which to a man of my generation is less than desirable," he said in an interview to Tiranga TV.

Asked by interviewer Karan Thapar that in light of the Balakot airstrikes and the downing of the F-16, if Indians have the right to question the military and the government or was it unpatriotic to do so, Ansari said, "Of course it is the right of any citizen body to question the performance particularly on matters that relate to foreign policy and defence."
Asked about Foreign policy magazine's claim that Pakistan's fleet of F-16 planes was intact with all fighter jets accounted for, Ansari said, "If a claim is made. If I have claimed that I have shot a tiger on a tiger hunt, surely I have to produce the tiger."