Airstrikes: War of words continues between TMC and BJP

The war of words between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP over the airstrikes on terror camps in Pakistan continued on Tuesday.

While TMC national spokesperson Derek O’ Brien accused the BJP of trying to politicise the issue, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said that one does not need Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to harm India when there are leaders like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Accusing the BJP of trying to politicise the issue and creating a false perception that the Opposition parties are questioning the armed forces, O’ Brien said that not a single Opposition leader has done any such thing.

“Not a single Opposition party leader has questioned the Army, Navy and Air Force. It is the BJP who is politicising the perception which is not even a reality. It (the BJP) is shamelessly trying to replace the Ashok Stambh on the armed forces’ uniform (with the BJP symbol)... They are trying to appropriate the Indian armed forces and almost put a BJP logo (on their uniform),” said O’ Brien in a video statement.

“We are for the armed forces and against this government whose expiry date is over. The government is trying to create a perception that they are the armed forces,” O’ Brien said.

Within hours of his comments, the BJP state president lashed out at Mamata for asking evidence about the airstrikes.

“I think we don’t need Imran Khan to oppose and harm India when there are leaders like Mamata Banerjee in the country. Organisations like SIMI, al-Qaeda are not needed when we have a party like the TMC,” Ghosh said.

Alleging that Mamata was speaking in the vein as the Pakistani prime minister, Ghosh said that the Pakistani Prime Minister is saying that he is frequently calling his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi but he (Modi) is not speaking to him, the chief minister is also saying that they want to speak to Narendra Modi but he is not speaking to them.

“We are surprised to see that the same questions and arguments are being raised from Pakistan and here,” he said.