The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
After back and forth with BJP, Assembly agrees to include PM’S name in resolution
SURGICAL STRIKES A BEFITTING REPLY TO ENEMY FORCES: DELHI GOVT
A RESOLUTION proposed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the special session of the Delhi Legislative Assembly Friday, backing the ‘surgical’ strikes on terror launchpads across the Line Of Control, turned into a back and forth between the AAP and Bjp-led opposition.
While Kejriwal carefully worded the resolution “backing the surgical strikes” as a “befitting reply” to “enemy forces” following the Uri attacks, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta settled for nothing but “praise” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his efforts.
What started out as the AAP’S efforts to set aside political differences and “stand united in the face of enemy forces”, was swept aside by Gupta. Responding to the resolution, Gupta said, “Even the Army Chief has praised the political leadership... One line should be added to the resolution praising the Prime Minister. While we are discussing all this, I also want to say that just three hours before the surgical strikes, the CM had tweeted ‘Excellent article. On Uri, rather than Pak, India seems to be getting isolated internationally’... this is not good for the morale of the people. I urge him to delete his tweet.”
Relieving the tension, Water and Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra responded, “When the Indian cricket team wins, of course credit should also be given to the BCCI chief.”
Mishra continued, “Baar baar hamara sar neecha hota tha... when Pathankot attacks took place, the ISI was invited to join the investigation. Isse bada kala din hamare desh mein kabhi nahin aaya hoga. Bharat Mata isse zyada sharminda kabhi nahin huyi hogi, phoot phoot ke royi hogi (That was a Black Day for us. Mother India must have been humiliated and cried)... Uri attack ke baad paani sar se upar nikal gaya tha aur agar ab bhi kuchh nahi hota toh Kashmir se Kanyakumari tak pratishodh hota. (After the Uri attacks it became too much to endure, if nothing was done people from Kashmir to Kanyakumari would have gotten up to take revenge).”
Labour Minister Gopal Rai also said, “Isse poore desh ko tasalli mili hai. India should not come under pressure from the United States or China to take on Pakistan...”
As Speaker Ram Niwas Goel proceeded to put the resolution to vote, Gupta stood up to clarify the amendment.
“So are you amending the resolution and adding that one line or not? Just say yes or no. We should know,” he said. Kejriwal nudged him, following which he said: “We would like to thank the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and all the chiefs of the Armed Forces also. Let us add this to the resolution.”
On the ‘surgical strikes’, Kejriwal warned Pakistan to “desist from repeating such incidents”. “I urge upon the government to proactively take all necessary measures to ensure that our military installations are fully secured, so that tragic incidents such as Uri and Pathankot do not happen again...,” he said.
Even as the assembly moved on to discuss the “failures of the MCD” in curbing vector-borne diseases, Kejriwal brought up the issue of the Centre-state tussle. “There have been false cases against 16 of our MLAS, one even on me, which was later called a typing error... Now that there are issues at the LOC, we will sort out our differences later...,” he said.