Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tell the families of the 40 CRPF soldiers, killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, who released Masood Azhar, leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) that claimed responsibility for the February 14 suicide bombing.
Mr. Gandhi also targeted National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, tweeting a December, 1999 photo of him at Kandahar where 150 Indian hostages were exchanged for terrorists.
“PM Modi please tell the families of our 40 CRPF Shaheeds, who released their murderer, Masood Azhar? Also tell them that your current NSA was the deal maker, who went to Kandahar to hand the murderer back to Pakistan,” he wrote on Twitter.
India freed Masood Azhar and some other terrorists in December 1999 to secure the release of passengers of the Indian Airlines plane that was hijacked from Kathmandu and eventually taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Mr. Gandhi’s attack on Mr. Modi and Mr. Doval over the suicide bombing marks a shift in the strategy of the main Opposition party. Most Opposition parties believe Mr. Modi’s popularity has increased after the air strikes on terror camps at Balakot across the border. That is why their leaders welcomed the Election Commission’s circular asking the parties to refrain from using armed forces in their campaign. “The EC’s circular on preventing the use of armed forces in election campaign was much needed. This needs to be implemented in letter & spirit. Let’s keep security forces out of politics. By using the military to conceal its own failures the BJP is walking down a dangerous path,” senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel wrote on Twitter.
