Digvijaya Singh’s surgical strike remark again puts Congress on defensive

Not for the first time, veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has put his party in a spot of bother by raising doubts about the 2016 surgical strike and drawing a backlash from the BJP that said the Opposition party was blinded by its “hate” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and had “insulted” armed forces.

Addressing a rally in Jammu during the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra on Monday, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said the BJP-led Union government talks about the surgical strike conducted across the LoC but has not furnished any proof to back its claim. “They talk about the surgical strike. That we killed so many people. But there is no proof. Keval jhoot ka pulinda se yah raj kar rahe hain (They are peddling a bundle of lies),” he said.

The party distanced itself from the comments. “The views expressed by senior leader Digvijaya Singh are his own and do not reflect the position of Congress. Surgical strikes were carried out before 2014 by the UPA government. Congress has supported & will continue to support all military actions that are in the national interest,” said Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh.

The BJP lashed out at the Congress. “India will not tolerate if they speak against armed forces. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress hate PM Modi but it seems they have been blinded by the hate to an extent that their dedication to the country has withered away,” said BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia. “Gandhi and the Congress do not have trust in our brave armed forces. They repeatedly raise questions and insult the citizens of India and our armed forces.”

While this is not the first time Singh has asked for proof of the strike, he is not the lone Congress leader to seek proof either. The initial reaction of the Congress in 2016 was to welcome the Army action. But, with the BJP then trying to hard sell the operation as an achievement of the Modi government, the party soon changed tack and started arguing that it was not the first time that the Indian Army had conducted surgical strikes.