Congress doing politics over terror: BJP on Pakistan boat incident
Congress has asked the government to explain “which terrorist organisation” was behind the boat episode.
“There is nothing new in the Congress speaking the language of terrorists,” said BJP.
Coming down heavily on Congress for asking the government to come clean on the Pakistani boat incident, BJP on Sunday accused the principal opposition party of touching a ‘new low’ and doing politics over terror.
Congress had yesterday asked the government to ‘come clean’ on the Pakistani boat issue and explain “which terrorist organisation” was behind the episode that unfolded on the high seas.
In a counter-attack on Congress, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “A new low in Indian politics has been touched and none other than Congress is responsible for this new low. Congress has touched an abysmal low as far as politics is concerned.”
He said India celebrated a ‘happy’ new year because the Coast Guard and the intelligence agencies of India could successfully abort a “probable” terrorist attack.
Referring to the central government’s press statement lauding the role of the Coast Guard and the intelligence agencies, the BJP leader said, “But ironically instead of standing with the Indian government and taking the opportunity of thanking all those who protected us from a probable terrorist attack, Congress choose to be sympathetic towards the probable perpetrators.”
Patra said there is no difference between the voices of spokespersons of Pakistan and Congress.
“Today the voice of Congress, the principal opposition party of India, is lending credence to the Pakistani stand. One cannot differentiate between the voices of the Congress spokespersons and the Pakistani spokespersons,” he said.
Patra maintained that by doing so, Congress has yet again supplied ammunition to Pakistan. “When the tragic 26/11 (attack) took place, Congress spoke out of turn and pointed fingers towards RSS. When the Batla House incident took place, Soniaji shed tears on the death of the terrorists and the former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had said so.”
He said, “None other than (then) Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, in the presence of Congress President and Rahul Gandhi, had spoken about saffron terror.
“Is this the way of raising doubt over matters concerning national security? Weren’t there more mature ways for calling for the details? Don’t they have faith on the Indian intelligence, Indian Coast Guard and the Indian government?” he asked.
Patra said, “Did Congress just wanted to gain some cheap publicity out of a serious issue or is there more to read? The country wants to know.”
Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar had said, “The government should come clean on it. There is no evidence… How can you say that a terrorist attack was prevented?”
“There is nothing new in the Congress speaking the language of terrorists. Congress has a history of advocating the cause of terrorists, be it those creating terror within the country or emanating from Pakistan. Congress is soft on terror due to its vote-bank politics,” BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
“Congress tried to divert the attention from terror by making wild allegations against BJP without any evidence that also led to lowering the morale of the armed forces,” he said.
In a midnight operation off the coast of Gujarat, a Pakistani fishing boat said to be carrying explosives was intercepted by the Indian Coast Guard before it exploded and caught fire and sunk with four crew members on board.
The incident, which occurred on the intervening night of Dec. 31, 2014, and Jan. 1 some 365-km off the Porbander coast, is being regarded in some quarters as being reminiscent of the 2008 Mumbai terror strike.
However, there has been no official confirmation of that conjecture with the Defence Ministry merely stating that the boat from Keti Bunder near Karachi “was planning some illicit transaction” in the Arabian Sea.
(With inputs from PTI)
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