Union Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. V.K. Singh (retd.) on Wednesday used a mosquito metaphor to address the debate on the casualty figures for the Balakot air strike, asking if he was expected to sit and count how many he killed at night or “sleep in comfort”.
The tweet from Gen. Singh came a day after he slammed the Congress for demanding the data , saying it was not a “game of marbles” where an exact score could be kept.
“There were a lot of mosquitoes at 3:30 am at night. So, I used Hit (mosquito repellent) on them. Now, should I sit and count how many mosquitoes I killed or sleep in comfort,” Gen. Singh said on Wednesday in an apparent reference to the Congress’s demand from the government on the proof of the casualty figures for the February 26 air strike.
On Tuesday, Haryana Minister Anil Vij had tweeted a similar comment. “The next time there is a strike on Pakistan-based terrorists, then one of mahagathbandhan leaders should be made to stand there so that they can count the bodies,” he said.
The Opposition has been asking the government to reveal the official death count in the strikes that were conducted days after the February 14 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel died.
While Indian Air Force chief B.S. Dhanoa said at a press conference that the force does not count bodies, BJP president Amit Shah claimed at a political rally that over 250 terrorists were killed .
