‘Sonia should say sorry for Dikshit’s remark on Gen’

The BJP on Monday attacked the Congress over its leader Sandeep Dikshit terming the Army Chief a “sadak ka goonda” and demanded an apology from its chief Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress had shown a “consistent pattern” in undermining democratic institutions and it was shocking that its leader had now targeted the Army, Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a press conference.

Dikshit had tendered an apology, saying he had reservations about Army Chief Bipin Rawat's comments but should have chosen appropriate words.

“There is no sense of apology in his tweets. No less than Congress president Sonia Gandhi should come out and apologise,” Sitharaman said.

Calling Dikshit, a former Lok Sabha MP, an eminent leader and well-known face, she said the Congress should disown him for trying to shame and demoralise the Army.

Referring to the 2008 Batla House encounter in which a Delhi Police officer was also killed, she said Congress leaders had then visited houses of killed terrorists. Congress functionaries had repeatedly made comments which targeted the country’s institutions, the minister said.

Sitharaman also referred to Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's “khoon ki dalali” barb at Prime Minister Narendra Nodi last year.

The Congress leadership has allowed many of its leaders to go “haywire” and there is a pattern in it, she said. “It shocks me and my party.”

Even when India lost a war, this kind of name calling did not happen, she said.

Such comments by Congress leaders had become useful for India's opponents and given them a leverage. “I wonder if there is a strategy of the Congress to undermine our institutions. They do so in Parliament but to do so to the army is shocking,” she said.