Prime Minister Narendra Modi must clarify his position on former J&K Governor Satyapal Malik’s expose on the 2019 terrorist attack in Pulwama where 40 CRPF personnel had lost lives, Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole said on Monday as he kickstarted the party’s ‘sharm karo’ agitation in Pune.
Malik had claimed that he had told Modi that the tragedy could have been avoided had the CRPF personnel been transported from Jammu to Srinagar by plane, especially since there were intelligence inputs to the possibility of a terror strike if the convoy moved by road. But the PM asked him to keep mum, he had said.
Patole said, “Why was there no investigation? Almost 300kg RDX was used for the attack. The incident was used by the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. When the then governor Satyapal Malik pointed out that the government had erred, he was asked to keep quiet. Why was he asked to keep quiet? PM Modi will have to respond to all these questions.”
Patole added that the PM’s “autocratic government is dodging questions”. “That raises more doubts in people’s minds. The Congress doesn’t want the martyrdom of 40 jawans to go in vain. Hence we have started the agitation. People will take to the roads if the government keeps ignoring the questions,” he said.
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Patole also reiterated questions raised on industrialist Gautam Adani by his party president Rahul Gandhi and said Modi will also have to clarify from where did those Rs20,000 crore come and also on PM’s connections with the Adani group. The agitation shall continue till we get answers, he added.
Meanwhile, the NCP, too, has fired salvo at PM Modi over the Pulwama issue and has demanded his resignation. Party supremo Sharad Pawar, while speaking at a programme in Pune, said that the government that cannot protect its soldiers has no right to be in power.
