Rahul Gandhi pays tribute to Pulwama victims, Priyanka joins Bharat Jodo Yatra

Rahul Gandhi’s gesture comes amid the uproar caused by former MP chief minister Digvijaya Singh questioning the 2016 surgical strikes and alleging security lapse that led to the Pulwama terror attack.

Rahul Gandhi accompanied by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra at Pulwama, Saturday | Twitter: INCIndia

Pulwama: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Saturday paid tribute to 40 CRPF soldiers who died in Pulwama terror attack in 2019. His gesture comes amid the uproar caused by former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh’s remarks questioning the surgical strikes of 2016 and also alleging a security lapse that led to the Pulwama terror attack, at a rally in Bharat Jodo Yatra earlier this week.

On his way to Pampore, where the yatra ended for the day, Gandhi paid a floral tribute to those who died in the attack. The yatra passed the same spot where the attack took place in Lethapora, Pulwama. Rahul, amid heightened and tight security, stopped on the national highway to pay his tributes.

उस मिट्टी को नमन, जहां पुलवामा हमले के वीर शहीदों का खून शामिल है।

आज #BharatJodoYatra के दौरान @RahulGandhi जी ने पुलवामा हमले में शहीद हुए वीर जवानों को श्रद्धांजलि अर्पित की। #BharatJodoYatraInJK pic.twitter.com/VMMCX3tN30

— J&K Congress (@INCJammuKashmir) January 28, 2023

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh kicked up a controversy recently by questioning the 2016 surgical strikes, and raking up Pulwama. In Jammu Monday, Singh had said, “Forty of our CRPF jawans were martyred in Pulwama. CRPF officials had requested PM Modi that personnel should be airlifted, but PM Modi didn’t agree. How did such a lapse take place? Till date, no report on Pulwama has been placed before Parliament.”

However, Gandhi had said he did not agree with Singh and called his statement “ridiculous”.

“I don’t agree with Digvijaya Singh’s statement. We trust the Army. The Army need not clarify on what it does”, he said at a press conference in Jammu earlier this week.

On 14 February 2019, a convoy of security personnels was attacked by an explosive-laden vehicle on the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway at Lethapora in Pulwama district which killed 40 soldiers.

Meanwhile, once the Bharat Jodo Yatra took a break in Pulwama, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra joined Gandhi here. Earlier in the morning, former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and her daughter Iltija Mufti had also joined the yatra from Awantipora. The yatra will walk in Kashmir Valley for another day. Bharat Jodo Yatra is set to end in Srinagar with a mega culmination rally on 30 January.

(Edited by Smriti Sinha)