Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party for demanding apology from his party for its reactions on the Pulwama attack last year.
“I am still trying to figure out what @INCIndia is supposed to apologise for,” Tharoor said in a tweet. “For expecting the government to keep our soldiers safe? For rallying around the flag rather than politicising a national tragedy? For expressing condolences to the families of our martyrs?”
Several BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have attacked the Congress on the matter, since a Pakistan minister on Thursday commented on the country’s involvement in the attack.
On Thursday, Fawad Chaudhry, while speaking about the Pulwama attack in Pakistan’s Parliament, had said, “Humne hindustan ko ghus ke maara [We hit India in their home]”. He, however, had backtracked after facing criticism.
Speaking at an event earlier on Saturday, Modi accused the Opposition of looking for “selfish gains” in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that the comment had revealed the truth and silenced the Centre’s critics. Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar demanded an apology from the Congress for talking about “conspiracy theories” related to the Pulwama terror attack.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and the party’s Information Technology cell head Amit Malviya have also targeted Opposition leaders.
On the first anniversary of the Pulwama terror attack, Rahul Gandhi had asked the government about the outcome of the inquiry. “Today as we remember our 40 CRPF martyrs in the Pulwama attack, let us ask: Who benefitted the most from the attack,” he had tweeted. “What is the outcome of the inquiry into the attack? Who in the BJP government has yet been held accountable for the security lapses that allowed the attack?” The Left had accused the government of incompetence for failing to stop the attack.
In February 2019, 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed after an explosive-laden car driven by a suicide bomber rammed into their bus in Pulwama. In August, the National Investigation Agency had filed a chargesheet in the case. Nineteen people, including Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar and his brother Rauf Asghar, were named in the chargesheet.
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