Balakot air strike: PM Modi raising questions, not us, Congress hits back

He said Modi’s statement has “long-term implications”.

“The Prime Minister has said that things would have been different. What would have been different, Mr Prime Minister? And if the reports are correct that one of our MIG-21s actually shot down an F-16, then what is the different expectation that the Prime Minister is talking about? So who is raising questions on the airstrike? Not the Opposition. It is the Prime Minister of India himself who is raising questions on the airstrike and this is absolutely unprecedented,” he said.

It is the Prime Minister of India himself who is raising questions on the airstrike and this is absolutely unprecedented, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said. (Express File Photo: Kamleshwar Singh)

“Then you have a minister in the union government, S S Ahluwalia, close confidante of Prime Minister Modi, who is saying that the airstrikes were meant to warn Pakistan and not kill terrorists…what do these statements mean. Who is actually playing with national interests and dampening the morale of the armed forces. The Prime Minister should answer…give a clarification to the country,” Tewari said.

READ | India should give proof of Balakot strike: Digvijaya Singh

Distancing the party from Singh’s earlier statement that India should give evidence the way the US government did on Osama bin Laden, Tewari said: “We never asked for evidence. We are not asking for evidence. We have confidence and trust in our armed forces. However, when the Prime Minister of India himself raises questions and when members of the union government themselves raise questions and give statements saying the intent of the air strikes was to warn Pakistan and not kill terrorists…it is a matter of concern”