BJP, Congress Trade Barbs Over Satyapal Malik’s Remarks Calling it ‘Security Lapse’

The Pulwama attack has once again become a center of political mayhem, after former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik blamed the 2019 incident on “security lapse.”

In an interview with The Wire, Malik claimed that the Home Ministry, under Rajnath Singh at the time, denied a request by paramilitary forces asking for an aircraft for commuting.

This resulted in the jawans traveling by road, where their convoy was attacked and 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

“The permission for an aircraft was denied by the home ministry, and it was unusual because the army personnel were large in numbers, five aircrafts would have been used for them,” Malik said.

Malik also added that he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the day after the terrorist attack, and told him that it was the ministry’s fault for denying the jawans an aircraft. To this, he adds, PM Modi told him to keep this down for now.

Congress, which has repeatedly questioned the Centre over the Pulwama attack, is demanding a probe into it and has reacted again after Malik’s comments.

Sharing a video clip of Malik’s interview, Congress took to Twitter and said, “yes, the Pulwama attack and the martyrdom of 40 bravehearts in it happened because of the mistake of your government.”

It added that instead of taking action for your “mistake”, the BJP-led government “not only suppressed the matter but also started saving its image.”

“If our jawans had got the aircraft, the terrorist plot would have failed. The country is shocked to hear Satyapal Malik’s statement on Pulwama,” the grand old party added.

The saffron party also joined the banter, with Amit Malviya sharing several old videos of Malik praising the Modi government.

He also shared a clip in which Malik calls Rahul Gandhi a “political juvenile” and wrote, “And before Congress minions get all excited about Satyapal Malik, their newfound knight in shining armour, here is what he had to say about Rahul Gandhi.”

Not the first Pulwama flagship point 

This is not the first time, the Pulwama attack has been a flagship point for the two parties.

In January this year, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh asked for a “report” on the 2016 surgical strikes, and the 2019 Pulwama Attack.

“Till date, no report on Pulwama was placed before Parliament. They (the government) claimed a surgical strike was carried out but didn’t show proof. They only spread lies,” the Congress leader said in a video posted by news agency ANI.

“Forty of our CRPF jawans were martyred in Pulwama. CRPF officials had requested the prime minister that personnel should be airlifted, but PM Modi didn’t agree. How did such a lapse take place?” he added.

Although the Congress party clearly clarified that the party did not endorse his views, Singh’s comments drew strong reactions from the saffron party.

BJP National Spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said that the grand old party “does not believe in our brave army and repeatedly insults the army and the citizens of the country by raising such questions.”

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