NEW DELHI: AAP on Thursday accused BJP of “demeaning” the Indian Army. It also slammed BJP for allegedly suggesting that the armed forces had sprung into action only after the saffron party came to power. AAP demanded an apology from defence minister ManoharParrikar and BJP spokesperson GVL Narsimha Rao and said that it would file police complaints against both of them.
“We demand an apology from BJP over statements made by Parrikar and Rao, which defamed the Indian Army. After the September 29 surgical strikes, Parrikar…compared the Indian Army with Lord Hanuman in Ramayana, saying that as the deity was reminded of his strength before going to Lanka, he reminded the Army of its powers and they did the job brilliantly,” senior AAP member Sanjay Singh said.
“On Wednesday, Rao questioned and demeaned the might of the Indian Army by saying that it did not have the power to conduct such surgical strikes for 70 years, which it has now acquired with BJP in power at the Centre.”
Miffed at the attack that was launched against CM Arvind Kejriwal after his message to the Prime Minister, asking for a “befitting reply to Pakistan to counter its propaganda”, Singh said BJP had been manufacturing rumours.
“Kejriwal hailed Modi and the Army for the surgical strikes in his video message. BJP’s sole aim is to target and insult AAP in any way it can. We never asked the PM or the Centre to release footage of the surgical strikes,” he added Singh said that the Indian Army had a glorious history and in the past 15 years, it had carried out nine surgical strikes.