PM Narendra Modi hiding behind blood of Indian soldiers: Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday evening leaped into the political boxing ring over the surgical strikes conducted by the Indian Army in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir by accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in “political profiteering from the blood of brave jawans” and “hiding behind the surgical strike” to hide the NDA government’s ‘failures.’

With his frontal attack that saw immediate counter-shelling from BJP, Gandhi positioned himself with senior party colleagues who have in the last two days countered BJP and the NDA government’s attempts to stamp a political patent on last week’s surgical strikes across the line of control in J&K. Projecting himself as a supporter of the Army and its heroics in defending the nation, Gandhi said: “Jo hamare jawan hain jinhone apna khoon diya hai, Jammu and Kashmir mein khoon diya hai.

Jinhone Hindustan ke liye surgical strike kiye hain, unke khoon ke peeche aap chhupe hain. Unki aap dalali kar rahe ho. Yeh bilkul galat hai. (You are hiding behind the blood of our brave soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir and those who carried out the surgical strikes for India. You are exploiting their sacrifices, which is wrong.)

Addressing a rally to mark the conclusion of his 30-day kisan rally in Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi reminded the Modi government “it was yet to give the armed forces the kind of pay hike they wanted”, in a reference to service personnel rejecting the recent Pay Commission proposals and demanding a higher pay package.

“The Indian Army has done its job for the country, you do yours! You (PM) promised to give a fair deal to the farmers, you promised to create one crore jobs for the unemployed, you promised a clean India, a Make In India.

But each of the promises remain unfulfilled,” Gandhi said. “During my 30-day yatra, I saw the desperation of farmers, the dejection of youth…Modiji promised bank accounts to everyone, but there is no money in the accounts.

All his promises are fake.” Trying to give a ‘pro-rich’ image to the Modi government and commenting on the black money disclosure scheme Gandhi said: “Modiji had said he has a 56-inch chest and will fight corruption, but he introduced a ‘fair and lovely scheme’ for those who stole from the country to turn black money into white.”