Hours after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj informed the Rajya Sabha of the death of all the 39 missing Indians in Iraq, the Congress alleged that the Modi government was “forced” to make it public because Iraqi authorities were scheduled to hold a press conference on Tuesday to declare that they had been killed by IS terrorists in Mosul.
The Congress and the government got into a war of words after Ms. Swaraj accused the principal Opposition party of doing “politics over the dead” and prevented her from speaking on the issue in the Lok Sabha.
The Congress hit back and accused the government of misleading Parliament for four years.
Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, describing it as a tragedy for the entire country, asked why the government had forcefully asserted last year that they were alive.
Rahul’s tweet
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi didn’t make any comment, but his tweet expressing condolence stated that the “families lived in hope”.
“I'm shocked to hear that 39 Indians who were in captivity since 2014 in Iraq are now confirmed dead. My deepest condolences to the families of those who have lived in hope that their loved ones will return unharmed. My thoughts and prayers are with all of you today,” Mr. Gandhi said on Twitter.
Congress MPs from Punjab Ambika Soni and Pratap Singh Bajwa, along with the party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, held a press conference in the evening and released the transcript of a Parliament debate of August 4, 2015 where Ms. Swaraj assured Rajya Sabha that the Indians were “alive and safe”.
“She told me you have been a Minister before and know how the government functions. I can’t share the details with you, but I have shared [them] with Harsimrat [Badal] and Prakash Singh Badal who was then the Chief Minister of Punjab,” Ms. Soni said.
She added that the External Affairs Minister went to the extent of saying the “abducted Indians were getting regular meals.”
