New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused the Congress of having no evidence to indicate that six surgical strikes were carried out by the government of Manmohan Singh when the United Progressive Alliance was in power.
Modi was responding to Singh’s claims that several strikes were conducted when he was the prime minister.
“Multiple surgical strikes took place during our tenure as well,” Singh had said on Thursday. “For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote-garnering exercises.”
Hitting out at the Congress, Modi dismissed Singh’s claims and said that the party’s leaders did not trust the valour of Indian soldiers. “The Congress is now saying ‘me too’, trying to prove that surgical strikes were also conducted during its term,” Modi said at an election rally in Rajasthan’s Sikar.
"They initially mocked and rejected surgical strike but people had faith in me and they stood by me," he said, accusing the Congress of telling "lies".
Four months ago, a Congress leader had said that three surgical strikes were conducted during Congress' term and now another leader is claiming six of them, Modi said.
"The number increased from three to six in four months. By the time the elections are over, this number would increase to 600. What does it matter when the strike is on paper? The Congress only speaks lies," he added.
Referring to the Balakot air strike of February, Modi said that Congress leaders had even questioned the number of terrorist casualties suffered in the operation.
"Congress leaders call the Army chief a ‘street goon’ and the Air Force chief a ‘liar’,” he said, sticking once again to the narrative of national security. “And when our soldiers kill enemies by entering their houses, the Congress asks us to furnish proof of terrorists’ corpses.”
The Congress does not let go of a single occasion to insult the armed forces that protect the nation, Modi alleged.
The opposition party had also released a list of the operations at a press conference after BJP leader Arun Jaitley claimed that the surgical strikes conducted when Singh was prime minister were "invisible and unknown".
(With inputs from PTI)
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