Kharge: Modi skipped Kashmir visit over safety concerns, but let Pahalgam tourists die?

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of failing to ensure the safety of the 26 persons killed in the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, despite receiving intelligence reports.

“26 people were killed because the Modi government failed to provide security to the tourists. Neither the police, border security force or the military provided security to the tourists (at Baisaran meadows) But Modi did not utter a word on his failure,” Kharge alleged.

“On April 17, Modi was to visit Kashmir. But following the Intelligence reports, he cancelled his tour. When he could cancel his tour over safety concerns, why did he not stop the tourists from going to Kashmir?,” he questioned, during his speech at 'Samarpane Sankalpa', a rally to celebrate the Congress government completing two years in power, held at Hospete on Tuesday. 

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Slamming the Centre for “falsely” accusing the Congress as anti-India, Kharge said: 

“Pakistan is known to wrongly blame India and they attack India with Chinese ammunition. So, I had, on April 22, stated that the country stands united to fight Pakistan. We are ready to fight for the country. Smt Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi sacrificed their lives and Gandhi ji died for this country. And today, BJP is trying to frame us as anti-nationals, slapping ED and IT notices against us, targeting the National Herald. 

He also boldly declared that the Congress would not “bend before anybody”.

Kharge claimed that the Congress party did not oppose it when Modi announced the all-party delegation on ‘Operation Sindoor’ too.  

“Modi did not seek our opinion before announcing the delegation. But we did not take offence and allowed our members to be spokespersons of our country. This only proves our commitment towards our country. We are keen on saving the nation and our people and will not worry about anybody taking credit,” said the veteran leader, adding that his party was committed to saving the Constitution drafted by Babasaheb under Nehru’s leadership.

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“When we were unitedly fighting for the nation, Modi was busy in Bihar elections. He skipped two all-party meetings. If you really love your nation, why did you skip them? If at all, we (Congress) had skipped the meeting, we would have been labelled as anti-nationals. But they (BJP) are patriots irrespective of whether they attend the meeting or not,” mused Kharge.

The LOP in Rajya Sabha also sought to know what punishment would be given to the BJP MP (Vijay Shah) for his derogatory remarks against Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who had been one of the spokespersons during a media briefing on ‘Operation Sindoor’.  

“Modi is still reluctant to demand his party MLA’s resignation. He should accept the resignation and also put him behind bars,” added Kharge. 

India