Former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has criticised Congress leaders as some of them had questioned the need for a war with Pakistan. Prasad named a number of Congress leaders, including Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, senior Maharashtra leader Vijay Wadettiwar, Karnataka minister R B Timmapur and Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra, for their controversial comments.
The BJP questioned Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday over the comments of several of their colleagues, some of whom have questioned the need for a war with Pakistan and the Pahalgam terror attack victims' account that the terrorists had marked out non-Muslims, asking if their call for national unity was merely a formality.
Addressing a press conference here, former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also lashed out at Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav for saying that he will not visit the grieving family of Shubham Dwivedi, one of the 26 people, mostly tourists, shot dead by terrorists at Pahalgam, as he had no relations with them.
Yadav had, however, added that he would ask his party members to visit the Kanpur-based family and alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), at times, incites people in mourning to misbehave on such occasions.
This is the height of insensitivity, Prasad said and noted that some Congress leaders even went on to question the accounts of Pahalgam attack victims, including Dwivedi's wife, that the terrorists had identified their victims by religion.
Prasad named a number of Congress leaders, including Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, senior Maharashtra leader Vijay Wadettiwar, Karnataka minister R B Timmapur and Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra, for their controversial comments to target the opposition party's leadership.
"Do Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge have no control over their party? Or both of them made pro-forma comments while letting others the freedom to speak as they wished?" he asked, adding that the remarks of the opposition leaders are being used in Pakistan, including by its media, to defame India.
Has any warning been given to these Congress leaders or have they been asked to apologise, Prasad asked of the opposition party's leadership.
He said Kharge, the Congress president, and Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, had extended their support to the BJP-led Centre at an all-party meeting over the countermeasures being considered by it following the Pahalgam attack, and said this reflected the strength of India's mature democracy.
However, several Congress leaders have made comments that appeared to be part of a pattern, Prasad said, wondering if the top leadership of the opposition party merely responded in a perfunctory manner in the wake of the attack.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Saifuddin Soz, he said, has criticised India's decision to put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance as the river is Pakistan's lifeline. The BJP leader added that Soz has asked the Indian government to take into consideration Pakistan's official claim that it was not involved in the attack.
Siddaramaiah has expressed his opposition to a war with Pakistan and subsequently, clarified that it should be pursued only as a last resort.
When the world is with India after the terror strike, be it the United States, France or Saudi Arabia, these leaders are making such shameless and irresponsible remarks, Prasad said, reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion that the perpetrators of the Pahalgam attack and those who conspired with them will be pursued to "the ends of the earth" and subjected to the harshest punishment.
This is the height of insensitivity, he said, adding that the likes of Wadettiwar and Timmapur too have also questioned the account of some of the victims that the terrorists had identified non-Muslims before shooting them dead.
Wadettiwar had asked if the terrorists had time to ask the victims about their religion, a view also shared by Timmapur. A few days ago, Vadra alleged that Muslims are being targeted by the government, promoting its Hindutva ideology, as he hinted at links between terror activities and anger in a society.
Prasad said when the country should speak in one voice, many Congress leaders are making such irresponsible statements.
Noting that he was the BJP's chief spokesperson during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack in 2008, when the Congress-led UPA was in power, Prasad said he was instructed by his leadership to affirm the party's support to the government headed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.