Mumbai, Jul 29 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of engaging in politics of polarization by giving Hindu names to military and security operations.
The former Union minister asserted the saffron party wants to mix Hindutva in whatever it does.
“They know nothing except naming operations after religious symbols. They inject religious fundamentalism into everything they do. I have read about wars in different countries. Though I am not a historian, but whether it’s world wars or any other war, has anyone used Christian (name for operations)?” he asked.
Chavan was responding to a question on ‘Operation Mahadev’, the codename given to the joint action by the Army, CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir police to eliminate three terrorists who carried out the Pahalgam massacre in April.
The former Maharashtra chief minister accused the BJP of engaging in communal polarisation.
“They (BJP) want to mix Hindutva in whatever they do. They are trying to polarise the situation into a Hindu versus Muslim conflict,” Chavan said while talking to PTI Videos.
The Congress leader noted war outcomes are decided by military losses suffered or inflicted by the countries involved.
“Operation Sindoor — what does it means? It’s only a Hindu concept, not a world concept. Name of operation doesn’t matter as wars are won when one nation’s planes are attacked and ones destroyed,” he emphasised.
‘Operation Sindoor’ was the codename given by the government to India’s military action in May against Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.
Chavan maintained he was disappointed with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s speech in Parliament during the debate on ‘Operation Sindoor’ on Monday as no new facts came out during his address.
“A discussion on Operation Sindoor is happening after a long time. I heard a few speeches. I was disappointed with the speech of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. We were expecting some facts to come to the fore. There were talks about our jets getting downed (during the conflict), they accepted it happened. When asked how many (jets) were downed, there was no answer,” said the former CM.
He asked the Centre to come clean on losses suffered by India during the four-day conflict.
“They accepted losses (of fighter jets) happened. CDS Anil Chauhan had said that. (American) President Donald Trump had also said (about jet losses). Are they fearing that when we have spent a lot on Rafale jets, they were downed by Chinese jets (used by Pakistan),” he affirmed.
Chavan slammed the BJP-led government over its assertion that more than 100 terrorists were killed during Operation Sindoor, which saw Indian armed forces attacking terror dens deep inside Pakistan and PoK.
“Who will challenge them. If I say thousands or two thousands (terrorists) were killed. Its your figure… is there any evidence of such things? he asked. PTI PS RSY
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