World standing with India but not some political parties: BJP's attack at Congress

Hitting back at the Congress for its attack on the Modi government over the Pulwama terror attack, the BJP Friday said some political parties are "not standing with the country" for petty politics when nations across the world have backed India.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra dismissed as lies the Congress's claim that Prime Narendra Modi was "completely oblivious" to the terror strike or "insensitive" as he "continued" with his prior engagements after the attack, and asserted that such lies need not be responded to.

The ruling party had in a tweet said that Modi's photo-shoot, on the day of the Pulwama terror attack, that Rahul Gandhi had referred to in his tweet took place before the incident and not after it as alleged by the Congress president.

At a press conference, Patra also attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and some other opposition leaders, claiming that they have spoken on the same lines as Pakistan has by questioning the timing of the attack.

The neighbouring country has tried to link the attack with the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in India, he said, accusing the Trinamool Congress president of making similar comments.

He referred to the UN Security Council's strong condemnation of the terror attack and naming of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad by the global body to underscore the Modi government's efforts to isolate Pakistan.

"On the one hand all countries are standing with India... humanity is standing with us, some political parties for their petty politics are not standing with the country," Patra said, attacking the Congress.

Tweets of Congress leaders, including Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor, have become headlines in Pakistan, he said.

Tewari had targeted Union minister Nitin Gadkari over his comment that India has decided to "stop" the flow of its share of water to Pakistan, saying it was an attempt to "package high octane jingoism" to hide "national security failures".

Tharoor in a tweet appeared to be critical of the view that India should not play Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup.

"At the height of the 1999 Kargil War, India played Pakistan in the cricket World Cup, & won. To forfeit the match this year would not just cost two points: it would be worse than surrender, since it would be defeat without a fight," the Congress leader has tweeted.

Slamming a media report that had done a caste-wise analysis of the 40 CRPF personnel who were killed in the attack, Patra alleged that the Congress was behind it.

"What kind of articles the Congress is getting printed," he asked, saying that Pakistan sees "casteism" and "Hindu-Muslim" issues as "faultlines" to weaken India.

To a question about Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy's tweet backing a boycott of "everything Kashmiri", Patra said Kashmir is an inseparable part of India and Kashmiris are like "brothers and sisters" to other Indians.

Earlier in the day, the BJP had dismissed Gandhi's claim that Modi attended a photo-shoot allegedly hours after the Pulwama attack on February 14 as "fake news", asserting that photographs were taken in morning.

"Rahul Ji, India is tired of your fake news. Stop sharing photos from that morning to shamelessly mislead the nation. Maybe you knew in advance of the attack but people of India got to know in the evening. Try a better stunt next time, where sacrifice of soldiers isn't involved," the BJP tweeted.

The BJP took on Gandhi after the Congress chief called Modi "prime time minister" and said he continued shooting for a film in Uttarakhand even three hours after the news of the Pulwama terror strike came in.