As 2019 is approaching, Modi and the BJP government are leaving no stone unturned to prove their abilities by all means. Every political party does their PR (Public Relations) activities to win the elections, but here BJP has surprised many by using the sacrifice of the Indian Army into a political tool to garner votes. It took almost two years for Indian Army to release a video of surgical strike. In the shown videos, only firing has occurred from a remote distance and no Indian Army personnel is visible or moving from one place to another in all those four videos. They have made an Army operation as a prime-time serial. When they don’t have any accomplishments to demonstrate, with rupee sinking to power against the dollar and all their economic advisors refusing to work with them, they are now hiding behind our brave Jawans.
No one ever doubted the sacrifices made by the Indian Army and their valour. It was a much-needed action. It was and always is frustrating for the soldiers to not being able to react or even act against very visible and established enemy. The infiltration and sneak terrorist attacks have been going on for decades. About time we gave them a fitting reply and emphasised that terror camps are not out of reach. It was a solid morale booster for the Armed forces and every Indian. Political mud shelling is inevitable, but that really makes no sense if the government compromises the act as a prime-time saga. Awkwardly, the Indian Army has become a tool in the hands of the ruling government.
If we look back, there was the Chachro Raid of 1971 — India’s most daring surgical strike in Pakistan. The September 29 surgical strikes on terrorist positions across the Line of Control (LoC) captured the imagination of the country. The strikes even became a political tool for some leaders in the ruling BJP to flout. Army officers point at several such strikes in the past. One of the most audacious and memorable among them is the raid on Chachro and several other Pakistani military positions 80 km inside the enemy territory. Specially trained commandos of the 10 Para hit enemy positions and returned without suffering a single casualty. This was the time when they had little or no technology to help them deep inside the enemy territory. The commandos travelled over 500 km hitting Pakistani positions. There are so many unsung heroes of 1948, 1965, 1971 and 1999. Military historians must research and compile their deeds that will inspire the generations to come. But these incidences never made a political hullabaloo. Because these were the real surgical strike, the Indian Army does not talk. But today it’s exactly the opposite. Those days, even the media was sensible and lived with its ethics and integrity. In 1971, Indira Gandhi, as Durga (as Atal Bihari Vajpayee called her) stood by the army on borders to defeat the Pakistan army. Therefore, she had all the rights to take political advantage of the victory in the next elections. But now Modi is not fighting on the front line. Therefore, BJP has no right to take the advantage. Moreover, what was the point telecasting surgical strike video two years after the incident?
Nearly two years after the Indian Army announced that it carried out surgical strikes across the LoC on terror launch pads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), several news channels broadcasted the video footage of the operation. The Modi government and the BJP wouldn’t have been politicising the September 2016 surgical strikes. I pity our soldiers and the Military sacrificing their lives for this. Nothing for the military but all the credits go for BJP, look at all the BJP supporters gloating, as if they went personally and defended India.
On the other hand, the Congress party is feeling threatened by its own sins of having challenged the authenticity of surgical strikes when Army had announced. The party was always asking for proof. Well, when now, the proof has come, instead of apologising to the army, it has indulged in the blame game. Let us not forget how much Congress party had humiliated the Army Chief when it had called him “Sadak ka Gunda” for his active action in the valley. Congress party may have a short memory but people do not forget their misdeeds.
Also, let the ruling dispensation remember that the blood and sacrifice of our brave soldiers cannot become a political vote-garnering tool for the Modi government and the BJP. The doublespeak of the Modi government and the BJP stands is reflected.
The Modi government is jeopardising our security infrastructure, they are putting the lives of our soldiers in danger. On one hand, the Modi government and the BJP indulge in seeking credit for the sacrifice of our soldiers and the surgical strike, yet the government has utterly failed to provide the direction, the vision and the policy for dealing with Pakistan and checkmating Pak-sponsored terrorism. No wonder, the apathy, and incapacity of the Modi government has resulted in the sacrifice of 146 soldiers, more than 1,600 ceasefire violations by Pakistan and 79 terrorist attacks post September 2016. Every time the Modi government fails to deliver their promises, why do they use the sacrifice of our soldiers for their political gains? India is proud that the Indian Army had successfully conducted surgical strikes many times in the last two decades, especially after 2000 and even before.
By making public, the videos of the strikes, government compromised the lives of the armed forces participating in them as also civilians living along the LoC. The eight-minute-long video shows how the Special Forces of the Indian Army crossed over the LoC and destroyed the targets on the Pakistani side of the LoC and news channels making it louder by their steamy comments and chiselling anchoring skills. What is this entire craze about?
Oooops! How can I forget! The election preparations of 2019 are on and we should be ready to accept anything and everything from our political parties, as none of them are different, birds of same feather flocks together. May it be BJP or Congress, both lack the sense of maturity when it comes to political campaigning.
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