BJP sees political gain in hit on Pakistan, won't gag Manohar Parrikar

NEW DELHI: Indicating that BJP sees the surgical strikes against terror launch pads as a political bonus, the party's senior members strongly defended defence minister Manohar Parrikar's remarks giving Prime Minister Narendra Modi "major credit" as well as his dismissal of Congress's claim that such action had happened earlier as well.

Top party sources said the defence minister was the "right person" to speak on the strikes. The Army action was in response to a national concern and public discourse would reflect it, sources said.

"I don't understand why anyone should object to Parrikar talking about the surgical strikes. Being the defence minister, he is the right person to speak," said a BJP member, hinting at the party's plan to refer more freely to the cross-LoC raids which were seen as avenging the Uri terror attack in which 19 soldiers were martyred.


The functionary said Parrikar talking about the strikes was not in violation of the PM's advice that the party should not indulge in chest thumping. The minister had a right to respond to accusations by political rivals and this could not be termed politicisation, the member said."Crossing the border (LoC) was a political decision and security is a major national issue. Therefore, there is nothing wrong if the minister is talking about the Army's success," said the party member.

Parrikar had categorically rejected Congress's claims that surgical strikes were resorted to during the UPA tenure, saying those were decisions taken by local commanders and could not be compared to the political will displayed by the Modi government.

His remarks evoked sharp reactions from Congress, reactions from Congress, which accused the minister of "blatant politicisation" and of undercutting the role of the Army. On Thursday, former defence minister A K Antony issued a statement saying "somebody should control Parrikar".


The BJP member said comparison between the surgical strikes and the Kargil war was unwarranted.

"The surgical strikes reflected the government's firmness against terror. But Kargil was an unavoidable situation thrust on the nation," the functionary said.

He was responding to a reference to the then Army chief Gen V P Malik writing to then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee seeking to contain politicisation of the Kargil war and use of Army pictures by a section of NDA members.