Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday came down heavily on the Congress-led opposition for “raising questions” about Operation Sindoor “instead of paying tributes to the valour displayed by our armed forces”.
Addressing a function organised by a media house here, the former BJP president also alleged that the Congress had been “soft” on insurgency while in power, and tried to “frame innocent people” by spinning the theory of “saffron terror” because of “vote bank” considerations.
“Recently, we had discussions in both Houses of Parliament on Operation Sindoor. Both debates lasted for 16 hours each. The opposition, which had started off on a belligerent note, was left dumbstruck,” Singh claimed.
Singh said it is “regrettable” that the opposition was raising questions on Operation Sindoor, “which saw our valiant armed forced destroying so many terror hideouts”.
The occasion warranted paying tributes to the country’s armed forces, he said.
“This has been the tradition in the past. During the war of 1971, (when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister), our leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee had wholeheartedly supported the government of the day,” Singh said.
He also acknowledged that “political and social unity” had been on display in 1999, when Vajpayee was the PM, and Kargil happened, adding, “such unity is essential to root out terror once and for all”.
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The defence minister also drew a contrast between the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, characterised by “decisive action against terror”, and the “soft” stance of the past Congress governments, weighed down by concerns of “vote bank” and “politics of appeasement”.
“People still shudder to recall the pre-2014 era, when terror attacks had become the order of the day. A series of bomb explosions were seen in this very city,” said Singh, referring to the serial blasts that had rocked the Gandhi Maidan in 2013, when he was sharing the stage with Modi, then the chief minister of Gujarat and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, during the latter’s maiden rally in Bihar.
“Elsewhere, like we saw in the Malegaon blast case, innocent people were framed in the name of saffron terror. The judge who delivered the judgment made the remark that terror has no religion. This is exactly what we have been saying all along,” the senior BJP leader said.
All the accused in the case, including former BJP MP Pragya Thakur, were recently acquitted.
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Singh, who had held the Home portfolio in the previous Narendra Modi cabinet, said, “Vote bank politics weakens the nation’s fight against terror. In the last 11 years, our resolve against the menace has grown stronger. The morale of our armed forces is skyrocketing. Anything that dampens this enthusiasm is neither in national interest nor in public interest.” Singh also touched upon the “rapid economic progress” under Modi, asserting, “We were the 11th largest economy of the world a decade ago. Today, we are occupying the fourth spot. No power can now stop us from reaching the top. The country is in safe hands, and so is Bihar, with the NDA in power. May this winning combination go from strength to strength.”
