Country understands the 'sentiment' behind Rahul Gandhi's 'khoon ki dalali' remark: Congress

The BJP gave birth to the Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Congress said.

New Delhi: Hours after BJP president Amit Shah launched a frontal attack on Rahul Gandhi over his 'khoon ki dalali' remark, the Congress, Friday, hit back at the BJP, accusing the ruling party of playing politics over the surgical strike by the Indian Army.

Addressing a press conference, senior party leader Kapil Sibal said, “This attack (Uri) would not have happened hadn't BJP given birth to Jaish-e-Mohammad. Who released Masood Azhar? Who took him on a plane to Afghanistan? And then he formed JeM and now they are accusing the Congress.”

“Pakistan is a patient and India wants that this patient to get healthy. Their (Pakistan's) body has cancer cells and these cells are the terrorists and we have to give chemotherapy and that is being given by our armed forces. We want this cancer to be cured....but they think (government) that cancer has been cured with one surgical strike,” Sibal said.

When asked about Rahul Gandhi's change of stance on the surgical strike – Rahul had earlier congratulated the government and the Army - Sibal described in length the 'sentiment' behind Rahul Gandhi's 'khoon ki dalali' statement.

“You must understand the feeling of Rahul Gandhi when he made these statements. The first statement was to stand with the government and the Army. Then they started to portray him as Lord Ram and they tried to gain political capital out of it. Rahul Gandhi said that political capital should not be made from it, that's the thought behind Rahul Gandhi's statements,” Sibal said.

“Rahul Gandhi knew what he said. His thought process was clear and the nation understands his thought process,” he added.

"Stop putting up these posters claiming credit, it was the Army who should be hailed, so stop politics," Sibal said.

Referring to Amit Shah's statement that it was for the first time the Indian Army had crossed the LoC, Sibal said, “They said it is for the first time that the Indian Army has crossed the LoC. Then who crossed the LoC in 1965, 1971, 1998...was it Modi ji, Parrikar or Amit Shah who crossed the LoC then?”

“We have never tried to gain political mileage from actions of the defence forces,” he said. The Congress leader also claimed that former Army chief Bikram Singh has said that surgical strikes were conducted earlier as well.

Accusing Amit Shah of questioning the mool (origin) of Rahul Gandhi, Sibal said, “Those who are tadibaaz, those who have murder cases against them will now tell us that there is a flaw in the mool (origin) of Rahul Gandhi.”

“They are trying to say that there was a flaw in Indira Gandhi, there was a flaw in Rajiv Gandhi, who sacrificed his life for the country...we want Modi ji to explain this statement,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi, yesterday, accused Prime Minister Modi of playing politics over the "blood of jawans" who sacrificed their lives in Kashmir.Targeting the Prime Minister over the surgical strikes, Gandhi said "Jo hamare jawan hain jinhone apna khoon diya hai, Jammu and Kashmir mein khoon diya hai, jinhone Hindustan ke liye surgical strikes kiye hain, unke khoon ke peeche aap chhupe hain. Unki aap dalali kar rahe ho. Yeh bilkul galat hai . (You [Modi] are hiding behind the blood of soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir and those who carried out the surgical strikes for India. You are exploiting their sacrifices, which is very wrong)."

A political slugfest over the surgical strikes broke out after Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam called it "fake" and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked the government to release the proof of the surgical strikes to counter the Pakistani propaganda against the operation.