Political dog fight erupts after Manmohan Singh’s criticism of govt

New Delhi:  A war of words erupted between the ruling BJP and the Congress over former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the death of 20 Indian soldiers by Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Ladakh’s Galwan valley.

The Congress hit out at BJP national President J.P. Nadda saying they should stop compromising on national security and India’s territorial integrity as it would be biggest disservice to the armed forces and asked not to buckle down.

The ward of words erupted between the Congress and the BJP after Manmohan Singh in a statement on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Prime Minister saying “disinformation” on the Chinese transgression will be a “betrayal” to the sacrifice made by the Indian soldiers at the LAC and it was neither a “substitute for diplomacy” nor “decisive leadership”.

Following Singh’s statement, Nadda slammed the Congress for insulting the armed forces and also reminded it of questioning the valour of the forces by questioning the Balakor air strike in 2019 and Uri surgical strike in 2017.

Nadda took to twitter and wrote, “Dear Dr. Singh and Congress party, please stop insulting our forces repeatedly, questioning their valour. You did this post the air strikes and surgical strikes. Please understand the true meaning of national unity, especially in such times. It’s never too late to improve.”

Soon after Nadda’s remarks, Congress national spokesperson and national media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala slammed the BJP chief and said, “Dear Nadda and the BJP, stop compromising on national security and India’s territorial integrity.

“This would be the biggest disservice to our armed forces and our 20 martyrs. Don’t buckle down, have the strength to rise to the occasion. We’ll give the government every support,” Surjewala said in a tweet.

Earlier in the day, after the former Prime Minister’s statement, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also said that ‘hope government will accept his advice’ in the interest of the country.

“Important advice by former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. For the betterment of India, I hope the Prime Minister will accept it politely,” he said in another tweet.