New Delhi: BJP today put up a spirited defence of Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, who is under fire from the Opposition, specially the Congress for delivering a strong statement against those coming in support of militants in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP today fielded Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh, who hails from Jammu, to take on the criticism of the Army Chief.
"This is very unfortunate and a matter of concern for the entire country that Congress is trying to play petty politics with the Army to gain political mileage in the Assembly polls," Dr Singh said in a special media briefing at the Party Headquarters. He said the Army Chief never delivered any warning, albeit expressed his concerns that innocent people should not suffer any loss during anti-terror operations in the state.
The BJP leader said General Rawat's statement was being presented by the Congress in a way, as if the Army Chief and the Army was against the youth of the state. "This is highly condemnable that senior leaders of Congress day in and day out were making statements, questioning the operations conducted by the Army and the wisdom of the Army Chief," he said. The strong response from BJP comes at a time, when Gen Rawat is under attack for his remarks made during his visit to Kashmir Valley.
"We would now request the local population that people who have picked up arms, and they are the local boys, if they want to continue with the acts of terrorism, displaying flags of ISIS and Pakistan, then we will treat them as anti-national elements and go helter-skelter for them," Gen Rawat said earlier this week. (UNI)