Rahul Gandhi attacked over 'dalali' barb, Congress jumps to his defence

NEW DELHI: Political temperature soared today over Rahul Gandhi's 'dalali' remarks, with BJP chief Amit Shah launching a blistering attack on him, saying he "crossed all limits" and "insulted" the army's valour as Congress leader insisted he supported the military action but denounced "political propaganda" on the issue.

The Congress vice president also came in for criticism from Arvind Kejriwal, who himself is facing flack over his remarks on the army's surgical strikes across the LoC, with the Delhi Chief Minister urging political parties to set aside their differences and rally behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

NCP too disapproved of Gandhi's remarks about the Modi government "profiteering" from the blood spilt by the soldiers.

"By making ' khoon ki dalali' remarks, Rahul Gandhi has crossed all limits. It was an extreme. By choosing such words, he insulted the bravery of our soldiers and 125 crore people of India," Shah said.

Suggesting that those casting doubts on the authenticity of surgical strikes are "anti-India" leaders, he said, "The whole country, BJP and its government are standing firmly behind the army. We do not believe in the comments of anti-India leaders. We believe in the army's bullets."

On the backfoot after his barb, apparently aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress vice president said he "unequivocally" backed the army action.

"I fully support the surgical strikes and I have said so unequivocally, but I will not support using the Indian Army in political posters and propaganda all across the country," the Congress vice president said in a series of tweets.

He had yesterday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing him of "hiding behind the blood of soldiers" and said that he was politically exploiting their sacrifices.

"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 (Modi) are hiding behind the blood of soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir and those who carried out the surgical strikes for India. You are exploiting their sacrifices, which is very wrong}," Rahul had said.

Even as Shah insisted that the strikes should not be politicised, he made it clear that BJP will go to people over the issue to "boost the army's morale" and that the military assult underlined the Modi government's zero tolerance policy against terrorism as well as its strong political will to take tough decisions.

Congress' senior leader Kapil Sibal, who was fielded to defend Gandhi, said the party vice president had lauded the Prime Minister when he said "Modi finally acted like a true PM".

"We defend the strikes, but stop this propaganda. It is wrong to claim credit for the sacrifice made by the jawans," he said and attacked Amit Shah for criticising Gandhi.

"Those who were in jail, got externed, had murder cases against them are telling us that we are at fault," Sibal said.

Kejriwal, whose remarks on the surgical strikes were interpreted as questioning their veracity, was also critical of Gandhi.

"Our soldiers valiantly carried out surgical strikes and demolished terror addresses. I have previously done so and want to congratulate the army once again for this. I strongly criticise Rahul Gandhi's remarks wherein he said army's sacrifices and bravery was 'khoon ki dalali'," he said.