Cong, BJP trade barbs over who politicised Balakot strike first

BJP raised questions against the govt constantly after the 2008 [Mumbai terror] attack. Was questioning the govt then not anti-national? KAPIL SIBAL, Congress leader

NEWDELHI: Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal trained guns on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Saturday, claiming it was he who had first politicised the Balakot air strikes by quoting the number of terrorists purportedly killed in the February 26 attack deep inside Pakistani territory.

Sibal’s comment came hours after Shah asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to clear his party’s stand on Balakot in the light of Indian Overseas Congress chief Sam Pitroda saying one could not “jump on an entire nation” (Pakistan) just because some people from that country “came here and attacked”, in a possible reference to the Pulwama terror attack.

“We were happy your government carried out the air strikes after Pulwama. But I want to know how many terrorists were killed. Why is that too an unofficial secret? If you have killed 2,000 terrorists, I will personally come and congratulate you. We never asked for any figures after Balakot. Amit Shah started this. He said we killed 250, then somebody said 300, they politicised this. BJP raised questions against the government constantly after the 2008 [Mumbai terror] attack. Was questioning the government then not anti-national?” Sibal asked.

He then shifted the focus on to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Modi ji, please tell us how many security personnel were killed during your tenure. You call us traitors, but the real traitor is the one who failed to shield our security personnel. I remember when the 26/11 Mumbai attack was underway, you criticised the government. Don’t teach us patriotism.”

Sibal said over 60 security personnel were killed since the February 14 Pulwama attack “while the chowkidar was sleeping”.

He also hit out at the government’s economic policies, saying countless citizens had suffered due to demonetisation and many had lost their lives. “Thousands of small businesses had to close down, sowing of crops was delayed, demand collapsed which impacted farmers’ income. The GDP took a hit of close to 2 per cent in the quarter of demonetisation while 15 lakh jobs were lost in the first four months after demonetisation.” NEWDELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s decision to field its president, Amit Shah, from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar is way bigger than announcing a mere candidature. It’s a hand dealt for a pecking order that’ll formalise Shah’s de facto number two status in the event of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s return to power.

If it is for the sitting Gandhinagar MP and former deputy prime minister, Lal Krishna Advani, the end of the road, for Shah, it seems the beginning of the lastmile-lap to his dream destination. Controversies never deterred him from aspiring to be to Modi what Advani was to AB Vajpayee —the second among equals to the PM’S first.

In that sense, Shah is on track to becoming the BJP’S LKA-2.