Former soldier’s statement gives Rahul Gandhi anti-Modi ammo

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a dig at PM Narendra Modi over retired Lt Gen D S Hooda’s comments. Modi, he said, was using the armed forces as a personal asset to build political capital. Referring to the PM as “Mr 36”, Rahul said General Hooda had spoken like a true soldier and that the PM had used the surgical strikes for political capital and the Rafale deal to increase industrialist Anil Ambani’s real capital by Rs 30,000 crore.

The controversy is only the latest instance where Congress and BJP have clashed over surgical strikes. BJP has held up the action as an example of its “resolve” to counter Pakistan-sponsored terrorism while Congress has doubted the claims relating to the operation and said such actions were carried out previously. BJP has said the scale and depth of operations in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are a first.

On Saturday, Rahul tweeted: “Spoken like a true soldier, General. India is so proud of you. Mr 36 has absolutely no shame in using our military as a personal asset. He used the surgical strikes for political capital and the Rafale deal to increase Anil Ambani’s real capital by 30,000 Cr.”


Hooda, in his comments at the military literature festival, also said the initial euphoria around the success of the surgical strikes was natural, but that the constant hype around the military operation was unwarranted.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi also said the “government is guilty of the most crass and cheap politicisation of the Army”. “Anonymity of the Army is its biggest strength and it was maintained by every government except this one. But we are grateful that some amount of truth is coming out, and it is coming out at the highest level,” he said.