'Poorly Designed, Incompetently Executed:' Rahul Gandhi Days After Chhattisgarh Anti-Naxal Operation

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the operation against Maoists was "poorly designed and incompetently executed". He also raised doubts about the security provided to the personnel who participated in the encounter.

Rahul Gandhi

A day after a senior official denied "intelligence failure" in the Chhattisgarh anti-naxal operation, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the operation against Maoists, in which 22 security personnel were killed, was "poorly designed and incompetently executed".

"If there was no intelligence failure then a 1:1 death ratio means it was a poorly designed and incompetently executed operation. Our Jawans are not cannon fodder to be martyred at will," the Congress leader Tweeted.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If there was no intelligence failure then a 1:1 death ratio means it was a poorly designed and incompetently executed operation.<br><br>Our Jawans are not cannon fodder to be martyred at will. <a href="https://t.co/JDgVc03QvD" rel='nofollow'>pic.twitter.com/JDgVc03QvD</a></p>&mdash; Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) <a href="https://twitter.com/RahulGandhi/status/1378926983699124229?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>April 5, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Along the remarks, Gandhi tagged a news clipping of CRPF DG Kuldiep Singh's claim that "there was no intelligence or operational failure in the operation in Chhattisgarh" where 22 security personnel were killed by the Maoists on Saturday in the state's Bastar region.

In a following tweet, Gandhi raised doubts about the security provided to the personnel who participated in the encounter. “No India jawan should face any enemy without body armour in the 21st century," he said.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">No Indian jawan should face an enemy without body armour in the 21st century. <br><br>It needs to be made available to every soldier.</p>&mdash; Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) <a href="https://twitter.com/RahulGandhi/status/1378983760222294016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel='nofollow'>April 5, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Earlier, news agency ANI has quoted Singh saying that "Had it been some intelligence failure, forces would have not gone for the operation. And if there was some operational failure, so many Naxals would have not been killed."

An encounter broke out between security forces and Naxals along the Sukma-Bijapur border in Chhattisgarh on Saturday after a party of jawans was ambushed by Maoists near Jonnaguda village around noon. The intense face-off led to the sacrifice of 22 soldiers, leaving 32 others injured, with 1 jawan missing.