New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP over the death of three soldiers, including two senior Army officers, in the ongoing encounter with terrorists in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing a press conference in the national capital on Thursday, Col. (retd) Rohit Chaudhry, the chairman of Congress’ Ex-Servicemen Cell, lashed out at PM Modi saying he was busy lapping up the applause from BJP supporters and was being welcomed with petals at the BJP’s national headquarters when Col. Manpreet Singh made the supreme sacrifice.
Col. Singh, who was leading the Quick Response Team (QRT) involved in a fierce gunfight with terrorists, fell to enemy fire.
Major Ashish Dhonak and Humayun Bhat, a DSP with Jammu and Kashmir Police, also laid down their lives in the ongoing firefight.
After urging the assembled media crew to observe two minutes of silence as a mark of respect for the slain bravehearts, Chaudhry said, “This operation (in Anantnag) has been ongoing since Wednesday morning. At 6.45 am yesterday, Col. Manpreet spoke with his family members saying he was going for an operation to neutralise terrorists. Our brave officers went down fighting as the encounter raged on.”
“I am ashamed to say that as our brave soldiers fought the terrorists and laid down their lives on the line of duty, our Prime Minister, Modi-ji, was busy receiving a rousing welcome from his party supporters at the BJP’s national headquarters. Petals were being showered on him as our soldiers fell to enemy bullets. Didn’t the PM or the BJP cadres think of our soldiers, who were putting their lives on the line for the country at the time?” the Congress leader questioned.
Referring to the Pulwama incident in 2019, he said, "This is not the first instance of the Prime Minister's apathy. A similar incident took place in the year 2019, when 40 of our soldiers were martyred. But Modi ji was glorifying himself, he was shooting a documentary. Our soldiers were bleeding, but Modi ji's shooting did not stop. Is it right that soldiers keep shedding their blood for the country and the Prime Minister keeps showing indifference?
Questioning the BJP’s grand celebration of the successful conduct of the G20 summit while the encounter was in progress, Col. Chaudhry said, “What was Modi-ji celebrating? What was so pressing that he failed to take note of this incident and act promptly? Why couldn’t he suspend his scheduled events and take stock of this operation?”