Congress’ response to the Surgical Strikes conducted by the Narendra Modi government has been rather comical. After initially questioning the strikes itself and then demanding evidence for it, the party went on to claim that it was not a big deal as the UPA had conducted similar military operations during its regime as well.
On Thursday, Rajiv Shukla claimed that the UPA government had conducted not one or two but half a dozen surgical strikes during its time.
Rajiv Shukla, Congress: One surgical strike was carried out on January 6, 2013 at Sawan Patra Checkpost; one on July 27 & July 28, 2013 at Nazapir Sector; August 6, 2013 at Neelam Valley; & one on January 14, 2014. (2/2) https://t.co/NMJWyuv8SL
— ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2019
The claim is quite comical as the number, like many other figures touted by the Congress party, keeps changing at a remarkable frequency. Congress President Rahul Gandhi, for instance, had claimed that the UPA had conducted 3 surgical strikes. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had quoted the same figure in a 2016 press conference. Former Union Defense Minister A.K. Antony, too, quoted the same figure.
Even Rahul Ji wasn’t updated about 3 surgical strikes looks like. Hopefully the Army knew about all 6. pic.twitter.com/El5QHhNs1w
— Aashish Chandorkar (@c_aashish) May 2, 2019
In March, earlier this year, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, had claimed the UPA had conducted 15 Surgical Strikes. Yes, 15.
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot talked about 15 surgical strikes just a few days ago. (h/t @UrMalli)
Seems Manmohan Ji ran a highly democratized and empowered government where anyone could order surgical strikes and keep it secret from all others. pic.twitter.com/B5bJc1C67T
— Aashish Chandorkar (@c_aashish) May 2, 2019
Mani Shankar Aiyar, who has acquired a legendary status owing to his flamboyant comments that have played a great role in getting Narendra Modi elected and helping the BJP electorally, claimed in 2016 right after the Surgical Strikes that the UPA had conducted 4 of them.
Leading Congress and BJP spokesman Mani Shankar Aiyar had mentioned at least 4 surgical strikes in this 2016 article, written soon after the actual surgical strike. https://t.co/NFoaBRfPM7 pic.twitter.com/uPvx2mlawq
— Aashish Chandorkar (@c_aashish) May 2, 2019
The most hilarious, perhaps, was Kamal Nath, now the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh who claimed that he wasn’t aware of how many Surgical Strikes the UPA had conducted but was very sure that the biggest did take place under the UPA.
Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath doesn’t have a number but is pretty sure that the biggest surgical strike (so more than 300 terrorists / Pak troops killed?) happened during UPA.https://t.co/4cPbu4KKHV pic.twitter.com/aqXhA2cYJS
— Aashish Chandorkar (@c_aashish) May 2, 2019
It might seem sensible enough to gather everyone around a table and decide upon the details of a particular fictional story before ordering everyone to peddle the same false narrative. But, of course, as we are well aware, Congress President Rahul Gandhi isn’t particularly famous for his great intellect. Therefore, such goof-ups appear par for the course. It’s no wonder then that it has become a joke on social media that the UPA government conducted surgical and air strikes without informing the Army or the Air Force themselves.
The Director-General of Military Operations (DGMO) in its reply to an RTI application during May, last year, had stated that there is no proof of any surgical strikes before September 29, 2016, responding to a specific question about whether surgical strikes had been carried out between 2004 and 2014.
