BJP, Cong spar over Satyapal Malik’s revelations

The Pulwama attack has once again become a center of political mayhem, after former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satyapal Malik blamed the 2019 incident on “security lapse.”

In an interview with The Wire, Malik claimed that the Home Ministry, under Rajnath Singh at the time, denied a request by paramilitary forces asking for an aircraft for commuting.

This resulted in the jawans traveling by road, where their convoy was attacked and 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

“The permission for an aircraft was denied by the home ministry, and it was unusual because the army personnel were large in numbers, five aircrafts would have been used for them,” Malik said.

Malik also added that he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the day after the terrorist attack, and told him that it was the ministry’s fault for denying the jawans an aircraft. To this, he adds, PM Modi told him to keep this down for now.

Congress, which has repeatedly questioned the Centre over the Pulwama attack, is demanding a probe into it and has reacted again after Malik’s comments.

Sharing a video clip of Malik’s interview, Congress took to Twitter and said, “yes, the Pulwama attack and the martyrdom of 40 bravehearts in it happened because of the mistake of your government.”

It added that instead of taking action for your “mistake”, the BJP-led government “not only suppressed the matter but also started saving its image.”

“If our jawans had got the aircraft, the terrorist plot would have failed. The country is shocked to hear Satyapal Malik’s statement on Pulwama,” the grand old party added.

The saffron party also joined the banter, with Amit Malviya sharing several old videos of Malik praising the Modi government.

He also shared a clip in which Malik calls Rahul Gandhi a “political juvenile” and wrote, “And before Congress minions get all excited about Satyapal Malik, their newfound knight in shining armour, here is what he had to say about Rahul Gandhi.”