Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi on May 5 called the Poonch terror attack a stunt “to make the BJP win” the Lok Sabha election.
One soldier was killed and four were injured as terrorists ambushed an Indian Air Force (IAF) convoy in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, three weeks ahead of polling in the Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency.
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To a question on the attack, Mr. Channi, the former Punjab Chief Minister, said: “’Yeh stuntbaazi ho rahi hai, hamle nahi ho rahe’ (These are all stunts, not attacks).” “Whenever elections are near, such stunts are performed to make the BJP win. There is no truth in it,” he said in Jalandhar. “The BJP knows how to play with people’s lives and bodies,” he alleged.
Mr. Channi is the Congress candidate from the Jalandhar (reserved) Lok Sabha constituency.
Minister seeks apology
His remark triggered a row, with Union Minister Anurag Thakur asking the Congress leadership to seek apology from the countrymen for insulting soldiers.
BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa termed Mr. Channi’s statement appalling and disrespectful towards soldiers.
Mr. Thakur asked the Congress whether it will insult soldiers to win elections. Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the party president should seek an apology for Mr. Channi’s remarks, he said.
“They insult our Army and question its capability,” said Mr. Thakur, who was in Jalandhar on Sunday.
Shameful, says Punjab BJP
Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar also condemned Mr. Channi’s remarks as “shameful.” “Ghastly statement by CWC member Channi belittling the valour of our brave soldiers is no less a crime and an insult to the nation. Channi’s shameful statement on the attack on our Air Force personnel in Poonch calling their valour as a stunt shows the bankruptcy and frustration of Channi,” he said in a post on X.
“The nation will not forgive him. He should hang his head in shame. The Congress and its allies should come clean on this issue. They should publically disassociate from his statement and ask him to apologise to the nation immediately,” Mr. Jakhar wrote.
BJP leader Sirsa said, “I condemn Charanjit Singh Channi’s statement of calling the martyrdom of an IAF Air Warrior in Kashmir ‘stuntbaazi”. “The Congress is saying that he was martyred because of elections. This mentality is not just appalling but disrespectful to those who serve our nation,” he said.
“Pakistan and Rahul Gandhi continue to support each other while Congress is belittling the sacrifice of our jawans,” Mr. Sirsa said in a post on X.
