Nothing changed in Congress, still shielding terror ecosystem: BJP's retort to Aiyar's remarks

New Delhi: The BJP on Sunday came out strongly against the Congress over veteran leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's comment on the Pahalgam tragedy, accusing it of shielding the "terror ecosystem" and showing "love for Pakistan".

Congress leader and former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, during a book release event here on Saturday, wondered whether the April 22 terror attack in the verdant tourist spot of Baisaran that left 26 dead, was a result of "unresolved questions of the Partition".

The BJP saw this as the latest in a string of reprehensible and disparaging comments by Congress leaders and their kin. There was no immediate reaction from the Congress to the BJP's hard-hitting remarks.

Reacting sharply to Aiyar's comments, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari, in a post on X, said, "Good Cop, Bad Cop -- Congress's appeasement continues even on the Pahalgam Terror Attack!"

"After Robert Vadra and Siddaramaih, now Mani Shankar Aiyar refuses to blame Pakistan and the terrorists!" he said, adding, "Nothing has changed in Congress since 26/11 still shielding terror ecosystem, still showing love for Pakistan.

Earlier, Siddaramaiah's "not in favour of war" and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's businessman husband Robert Vadra's suggestion that non-Muslims were attacked in Pahalgam as terrorists feel Muslims are being "mistreated" in the country, even as they denounced the terror attack, had drawn flak from all quarters.

The BJP was sharp in its attack against Vadra, accusing him of using the language of terrorists and demanding his apology.

The most recent was Aiyar's remark that the question posed to the country earlier and faced today was whether Muslims in India felt accepted, cherished and celebrated.

"Many people almost prevented Partition, but it happened because there were differences in value systems and assessments of the nature of India's nationhood and its civilisational inheritance between people like Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Jinnah and many other Muslims who did not agree with Mr Jinnah."

"But the fact is that the Partition happened and till today we are living with the consequences of that Partition. Is this how we should be living? Is that the unresolved questions of the Partition reflected in the terrible tragedy... in Pahalgam on April 22," he had said while condemning the attack.

Bhandari visited Haryana on Friday and met the family of Lt Vinay Narwal. The photo of the navy officer's body lying on the ground in the lush Baisaran meadows of Pahalgam with his newlywed wife slumped beside it with an empty gaze has become the haunting symbol of the ghastly attack.

After meeting the family, the BJP spokesperson said that Pakistan would have to pay dearly for the loss of innocent lives in the attack.

"I visited the family of martyr Lt Vinay Narwal -- a braveheart who was killed by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists in Pahalgam. No words can ease the pain of his wife Himanshi Narwal and his grieving family, but let it be known: India will not forgive!" he said in a post on X.

"Pakistan will pay for every drop of tear, every drop of blood, every innocent life lost as PM Narendra Modi ji said 'Mitti main mila denge' (will raze them to the ground)," Bhandari added.