Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, 8 November, praised Lt General (retired) D S Hooda, who had expressed his displeasure over the politicisation of the 2016 surgical strikes.
Earlier, Lt General (retired) D S Hooda had said that "Surgical strike was overhyped & politicised" and “it is not good” when “military operations get politicised.” He was the Northern Army Commander in September 2016 when Indian troops carried out surgical strikes in the wake of the Uri attack.
Lauding Hooda for his statement, Gandhi, in a tweet, said the ex-serviceman had spoken “like a true soldier.”
Further, in a veiled attack on the centre, Gandhi said that a certain ‘Mr 36’ had used the military as a ‘personal asset, while claiming that that the same person had used the “surgical strikes for political capital and the Rafale deal to increase Anil Ambani’s real capital by 30,000 Cr.”
While Gandhi lauded Hooda for his remarks, senior Congress Mallikarjun Kharge told ANI that credit for surgical strikes should be given only to the armed forces, and not to the government.
The Prime Minister must not take credit for surgical strikes. The credit should only go to the armed forces, who continue to sacrifice their lives at the border.Mallikarjun Kharge
Underlining the sensitivity of such cross-border operations, Kharge noted that such matters should not be overhyped. Accusing PM Modi of using surgical strikes for political benefit, Kharge asserted that the Prime Minister had often used the cross-border operation to criticise the opposition in many of his public rallies.
“The PM himself talks about surgical strikes during elections. He says that surgical strikes not liked by congress. He uses it to attack opposition,” Kharge added.
MoS (PMO) Jitendra Singh, on the other hand, said it was the opposition which had politicised surgical strikes.
I will not comment on what an individual says. If at all there has been an attempt to politicise Surgical strike, it has been done by the Congress, which did not wish to give credit to the Modi government.Jitendra Singh, MoS, PMO
While the Congress lashed out at the BJP-led centre for misusing surgical strikes, JD(U) leader KC Tyagi said that the surgical Strikes were not politically motivated. “Surgical strikes were meant to boost the morale of the armed forces and discourse the enemy. It didn’t have any political motive,” he said.
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