TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee.
Credit: PTI Photo
Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress on Monday criticised the Union Government led by Bharatiya Janata Party over the April 22 carnage in Jammu and Kashmir, with the party’s general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, questioning how the terrorists had entered India from areas under the control of Pakistan to carry out the attack and why their whereabouts continued to be unknown.
The heir apparent of the TMC supremo and West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, also hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre for disregarding the emotions of the 140-crore people of India and entering into a ceasefire with Pakistan on May 10.
He asked why the government did not respond to United States President Donald Trump’s claim that he had persuaded India into a ceasefire with Pakistan. He cited India’s failures to stop Pakistan from getting loans from the international lending agencies despite promoting cross-border terrorism, as well as from taking over as the vice-chair of the United Nations Security Council’s counterterrorism committee.
Abhishek, a member of the Lok Sabha, took to X on Monday and raised five questions about the April 22 killing of 26 people, mostly tourists, at Baisaran in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir by a gang of terrorists owing allegiance to The Resistance Force, a proxy of Pakistan-based anti-India Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT).
“How did four terrorists manage to infiltrate the border and launch an attack that killed 26 innocent civilians? Where is the accountability for this massive breach in national security?” he asked, questioning if it was a case of intelligence failure, why the Intelligence Bureau chief had not been held accountable and instead, barely a month after the attack, granted an extension for a year.
Soon after the de facto ‘No. 2’ of the party posted his posers on the April 22 carnage on X early on Monday, the TMC legislators, parliamentarians, and other leaders launched a tirade against the BJP-led government at the Centre, accusing it of failures on national security and diplomatic fronts.
“How did four terrorists manage to infiltrate the border and launch an attack that killed 26 innocent civilians? Where is the accountability for this massive breach in national security?” asked Abhishek, who represented the TMC in one of the seven multi-party delegations the BJP-led government at the Centre sent to 33 countries to articulate India’s stand against cross-border terrorism sponsored by Pakistan.
He was one of the delegates who was very vocal in criticising Pakistan for its export of terrorism to India during his tours to Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
“When will India reclaim Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir (PoJK)? Why hasn’t the government officially responded to the US president’s claim that he persuaded India into a ceasefire with promises of trade, just as the nation stood together irrespective of their cast, creed, religion and political affinity, celebrating the triumph of righteousness and saluting the valour and sacrifice of our armed forces?” Abhishek asked on X, adding: “Why were the emotions of 140 crore Indians disregarded? What led to such a compromise?”
He was referring to the May 10 understanding between India and Pakistan to halt the four-day-long cross-border flare-up.
Mamata and Abhishek initially led the TMC in extending full support to the BJP-led dispensation at the Centre immediately after the April 22 killing near Pahalgam in J&K, stating that it would support any appropriate response by the Government of India to the latest manifestation of the menace of terrorism sponsored by Pakistan.
With the assembly elections in West Bengal just a year away, the TMC’s strategy was apparently intended to deny the BJP, the main opposition party in the state, any opportunity to use the public anger over the terrorist attack to add momentum to its allegation that the ruling party was pursuing a policy of appeasement in order to protect its vote-bank in the state.
The TMC, however, over the past few days, returned to criticising the Modi Government at the Centre, with the party supremo on June 10 accusing it of failing to pre-empt the April 22 terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, as well as of missing out on the “golden opportunity” last month to wrest control of India’s territory under illegal occupation of Pakistan.