New Delhi: The ruling BJP on Friday (February 14, 2020) hit out at Rahul Gandhi over his ''who benefitted from Pulwama attack'' remarks and said that he is a known sympathiser of banned terror outfits like Lashkar-e-Toiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. Attacking the Congress MP, the saffron party said that his recent tweet on Pulwama attack is an insult to the 40 CRPF martyrs who laid down their lives for the nation in the line of duty.
Slamming Rahul Gandhi, the party said that his remarks will help Pakistan counter India on international platforms. Calling him a 'known sympathiser' of LeT, Jaish-e-Mohammed, the BJP said that he chooses to target not just government but the security forces as well which is unfortunate.
Several top BJP leaders including Sambit Patra, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Prakash Javadekar, Mahendra Nath Pandey slammed Rahul Gandhi for making an what they called ''insensitive'' tweets on first Pulwama attack anniversary.
Rahul Gandhi had on Friday made a stinging attack on the ruling Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre and sought to know from it who benefitted the most from the Pulwama attack on its first anniversary.
Taking to Twitter, the Congress MP raised three questions and sought to know from the BJP regime what came out of the inquiry into the February 14, 2019 Pulwama attack.
The Gandhi scion finally asked who in the BJP government has been held accountable for the security lapses that allowed the attack?.
Today as we remember our 40 CRPF martyrs in the #PulwamaAttack , let us ask:
1. Who benefitted the most from the attack?
2. What is the outcome of the inquiry into the attack?
3. Who in the BJP Govt has yet been held accountable for the security lapses that allowed the attack? pic.twitter.com/KZLbdOkLK5
Rahul Gandhi's tweet, which is likely to trigger a political storm, came on a day when the entire nation is paying homage to 40 brave Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans, who lost their lives in one of the worst terror attacks in three decades in the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir on this day - February 14, 2019, for their valour and supreme sacrifice in the line of duty.
Gandhi’s tweet was in reference to how the BJP had captured the posy-Pulwama political narrative around security and nationalism and how it paid dividends in the Lok Sabha election last year.
Before Gandhi, CPI(M) leader Mohammed Salim on Friday said there was no need to build a memorial for the 40 CRPF personnel killed as it only reminds the country of incompetence in failing to stop the attack.
A CRPF convoy of 70 vehicles was targeted by an explosives-laden SUV that was being driven by a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber, who was later identified as Adil Ahmad Dar. The vehicle rammed into one of the CRPF buses, killing 40 personnel onboard. The Pulwama terror attack was condemned by PM Narendra Modi in very strongest terms. PM Modi then said that the terrorists had committed a huge mistake and they will pay for it.
13 days later, India avenged the Pulwama attack by bombarding the Jaish terror camps located in Pakistan's Balakot, reportedly killing between 200-300 terrorists. Almost all the conspirators behind the dastardly attack have since been killed with the last one being Qari Yasir, the self-styled chief of Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group, who was killed last month.
