TIA NEWS
The Congress on Monday lambasted Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar for his remarks that “RSS ideology inspired surgical strikes”, saying he has been a “national embarrassment”. The main opposition said that Parrikar “doesn’t derserve to hold his portfolio”.
Earlier on Monday Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar said that the RSS ideology inspired Prime Minister Narendra Modi and him to carry out the September 29 surgical strikes across the Line of Control.
“Why is the Defence Minister of India always so over the top. Today he has credited the RSS for operations along LoC. Earlier he had said, like Hanuman, Army did not know their process until I pointed out to them their strength and capacity. He even said, such an action has never been done before and it was the first surgical strike by the Army,” Congress leadewr manish Tiwari told media persons
“Then they blame others for politicising the operations along the LoC. We would like to ask BJP and Defence Minister, did PM Lal Bahadur Shastri go to an RSS shakha? Did defence minister Yashwantrao Chavan go to an RSS shakha? Did PM Mrs Indira Gandhi go to a shakha? Did defence minister Jagjivan Ram go to a shakha? Did Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw go to a shakha? Did General JS Arora go to a shakha? What kind of a Defence Minister do we have?” he asked.
Tiwari added, “For all the chest thumping of the BJP, the strategic restraint of the UPA, where we conducted operations but kept our lips zipped, actually yielded results. In J&K, in 2004 281 security personnel, 700 civilians & 976 terrorists were killed by 2009, incidents down 1/5th. Security personnel deaths were down to 78, civilians were 71 and terrorists 239. Because infiltration was stopped. In 2014, incidents were down to 222, forces killed down to 47, civilians 28 & terrorists 110. Therefore, policy of strategic restraint and carrying out operations to change the behaviour of the deep state in Pakistan showed results.”
JDU and CPIM have also criticised defense minister remarks saying it does not reflect the stature of defence minister of the country.
Speaking at a “Know Your Army” event organised at the Nirma University campus, the Defence Minister said both the Prime Minister and he have been facing a tough situation when people began questioning them after the Uri attacks. “After 18 soldiers were martyred in Uri we had to face a lot of difficult situations. Till the 29th of September, the Prime Minister was targeted on the social media and in other media. Some share of the criticism was also directed towards me,” Parrikar added.
It was not possible that a Prime Minister from the land of Mahatma Gandhi and a Defence Minister from Goa with a common RSS orientation would not take such a strong decision, he said.