The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for questioning the Indian Air Force’s air strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Pakistan, PTI reported.

“It is a matter of shame that just for the sake of politics, a chief minister doubts our armed forces,” said BJP National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya in Kolkata. “The entire nation stands by them. We condemn such statements.”

Banerjee on Thursday demanded that the Centre share details about the Indian Air Force’s strike on the terror camp. She also accused the Centre of politicising the operation.

Advertisement

BJP’s West Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh said it was condemnable that an Indian politician was demanding evidence of the strike. “Had a Pakistani politician asked such a question, we would have understood it,” Ghosh said. “But it is shameful and condemnable that a politician from India, that too a chief minister, has been raising such questions.”

Ghosh claimed some political leaders and parties in the country were speaking in “Pakistan’s language”. “When families of our slain soldiers are demanding action, our chief minister is busy raising questions and putting the blame on the Centre,” he said, according to IANS.

On Opposition parties’ allegation that the BJP was trying to politicise India-Pakistan tensions ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Ghosh said it was natural for such a major incident to impact the country’s politics. “Everything in the country has a political impact,” Ghosh said. “During the Kargil war, high nationalist sentiments in the country impacted politics as well. Why should it be an exception this time?”