4 min readJaipurAug 17, 2023 10:00 AM IST
First published on: Aug 16, 2023 at 09:13 AM IST
Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Tuesday hit out at BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya who claimed that Pilot’s father Rajesh Pilot had bombed Mizoram’s capital Aizawl in 1966.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Malviya said, “Rajesh Pilot and Suresh Kalmadi were flying the Indian Air Force planes that bombed Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, on 5 March 1966. Later both became MPs on Congress tickets and ministers in the government.”
“It is clear that Indira Gandhi gave respect and a place in politics as a reward to those who carried out air raids on their own people in the North East,” Malviya said.
Responding to Malviya, Sachin Pilot said, “You have the wrong dates, wrong facts… Yes, as an Indian Air Force pilot, my late father did drop bombs. But that was on erstwhile East Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pak war and not as you claim, on Mizoram on the 5th of March 1966.”
Pilot pointed out that his father was “commissioned into the IAF only on 29th October 1966!” He also shared a certificate by President of India V V Giri given to Rajeshwar Prasad, better known as Rajesh Pilot, appointing him as a Pilot Officer in the Indian Air Force. Giri was President of India from August 24, 1969, to August 24, 1974, and the certificate was given to Rajesh Pilot on February 10, 1970.
During his reply to the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that then PM Indira Gandhi had used the IAF against Mizoram. “On March 5, 1966, Congress dropped bombs on helpless citizens in Mizoram through its Air Force. Congress should answer if it was the Air Force of any other country. Were the people of Mizoram not the people of our country? Was their security not the responsibility of the Indian government? Till this day, Mizoram observes mourning on March 5. It is unable to forget that pain,” PM Modi had said.
Responding to Modi, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, had said that “the Prime Minister’s speech revealed the influence of mischievous distorians on his thinking. He twisted decisions taken by his predecessors out of their political and historical context. He did it only to score petty debating points. This is perhaps only to be expected from someone who claims to be a MA in Entire Political Science.”
“His criticism of Indira Gandhi’s extraordinarily tough decision of March 1966 in Mizoram to deal with secessionist forces that drew support from Pakistan and China was particularly pathetic. She saved Mizoram, started negotiations with those fighting the Indian state and finally a Peace Accord was signed on June 30, 1986. The manner in which the Accord came about is a remarkable story that reinforces the idea of India in Mizoram today.”
“Anyone who takes their role as Prime Minister with full responsibility of the incredibly tough decisions one needs to make in that chair would never have said this,” Ramesh had said.
On Tuesday evening, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot too attacked the BJP saying, “Congress leader Shri Rajesh Pilot was a brave pilot of the Indian Air Force. By insulting him, the BJP is insulting the sacrifice of the Indian Air Force. The whole country should condemn this.”
Sachin Pilot; Rajesh Pilot's letter of appointment at the Indian Air force. (Photo: File/Sachin Pilot) 
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