Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 3 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader CR Kesavan on Saturday lashed out at former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi for casting doubts on the 2019 surgical strikes carried out by the Indian armed forces in response to the Pulwama terror attack, which claimed the lives of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans and called the Congress party's expression of sympathy for the victims of the recent Pahalgam terrorist attack an "outright lie."
Kesavan further accused Channi of suspecting the patriotism of the armed forces. He said that the Congress was trying to "lower the morale" of the forces amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan.
"When Rahul Gandhi claims that Congress sympathises with victims of terror attacks, it is an outright lie. Yesterday, we saw Charanjit Singh Channi in a press conference, shamelessly suspecting the patriotism and courage of the armed forces and insulting our defence personnel. Channi's statement exposes the deepest, divisive and dangerous ideology of Congress," Kesavan said in a self-made video.
"What is the Congress trying to do? Are they trying to lower the morale of our armed forces at this critical juncture?" he asked.
Meanwhile, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini alleged that Channi was speaking someone else's language rather than expressing his thoughts. He further said that his statement was very "unfortunate" and questioned why he couldn't see such a "big attack".
"Yeh kahi aur ki bhasha bol rahe hai, apni bhasha nahi bol rahe" ("He is speaking someonelse's language, not his own"). This is unfortunate. Can't he see such a big attack? He could not even see the Uri attack?" CM Saini said while participating in the 'Walk for Drug-Free Chandigarh' event.
This comes after Channi stoked controversy by demanding proof of the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian armed forces in Pakistan territory in the past under the BJP government at the centre. Casting doubts over the strikes, the former Punjab CM said that he has always demanded proof of it.
"To date, I could not find where the (surgical) strike took place, where men were killed at that time, and where this happened in Pakistan. Will we not find out if a bomb is dropped in our country? They say that they did a surgical strike in Pakistan. Nothing had happened. Nowhere was a surgical strike seen. Nobody came to know...I have always demanded (proof). But today, people's wounds need to be tended to. We demand that the Government do something. Tell people who they (perpetrators of the Pahalgam Terrorist Attack) are and punish them," Channi said at a press conference.