Should Army Have Taken Rahul Gandhi Along for Surgical Strikes, Asks Manohar Parrikar

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today accused the Congress of spreading misinformation against him and the BJP.

Addressing his party workers for the first time since his return from the US last month after medical treatment, Parrikar attacked the Congress for questioning the veracity of the surgical strike conducted by the Army in the PoK in 2016.

“What do the opposition parties claim? That they (surgical strikes) were not carried out. Look at the negativity. Should I have taken you (Opposition) along? Should I have told the army that take Rahul Gandhi along and carry out the surgical strikes? ” asked Parrikar, who was the then Defence Minister, when the Army carried out the strikes.

"If you want to do a surgical strike, then the most important thing is secrecy. Only four people were knowing about the strike including the prime minister, me, the Army chief and the director general of military operations besides Army's Zone Commander and the Commander in Srinagar," he said.

The Army had reported on September 29, 2016, eleven days after the Uri attack that claimed 18 jawans, that it had conducted surgical strikes against suspected militant launch pads in the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.

Accusing the Congress of spreading misinformation against him and the BJP, Parrikar appealed to BJP workers to respond to such campaigns during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"Initially, when I came to power, (some) people would create an impression that I am an arrogant person. The Congress is an expert in spreading such misinformation," the chief minister said while addressing the gathering at a hall here.

He also asked the BJP workers to be wary of the spread of fake news on the social media. "This is the era of information technology and there is continuous streaming of information on Facebook. Fake news is also planted. We read how people have lost their lives because of fake news. In such circumstances, the (party) workers have to shoulder an increased responsibility," Parrikar said.

He was referring to recent incidents of lynchings in various parts of the country by mobs spurred by circulation of fake news on social media. ".....Several fake news will float ahead of elections," the CM said.

"If we want to win the upcoming elections, we will have to inform the people about the welfare and developmental schemes undertaken by the Centre during the last four years by collecting data through all possible sources," Parrikar said.