Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on Thursday termed the February 14 Pulwama terror attack an assault on "our collective conscience and integrity" and alleged that the BJP was policising it.

“As the Congress President said, we are with the armed forces and the families of our brave jawans. Pakistan cannot succeed as we have taught them a lesson in 1947, 1975, 1971 and 1999. The Congress has supported the armed forces and our government, to give a befitting reply to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism,” he said at a press conference at the All India Congress Committee headquarters.

“But the Modi government seems only interested in clinging on to power. Amit Shah gave a cheap comment on Congress on February 17 in Guwahati and politicised the terror attack. Modi-Shah duo have an old and bad habit of politicising terror. When our government and Army were fighting terrorists, BJP was releasing ads. The example that Shri Modi set in insulting the martyrs, no other person has done," he said.

"When the entire country was struggling to come to terms with the attack, Modi ji was shooting a documentary with Discovery channel in Corbett national park. From 3.10 p.m. when the blast happened to 6.40 p.m., he was in the Corbett national park,” said Mr. Surjewala.

“While the country was mourning, PM Modi ji was boating for four hours, getting photos clicked. PM didn't announce a national mourning because he didn't want his public events to be cancelled,” Mr. Surjewala added.

“Look at the photo of MP Sakshi Maharaj who's smiling during the final journey of a fallen jawan. Tourism minister Alphons took a selfie with the dead body,” he said.

The spokesperson said that the Prime Minister has left for a foreign tour. He posed a few questions: “Will you accept your responsibility for failure of intelligence? How did the local militants get RDX and M4 carbines? Why did you ignore a video released by Jaish-e-Mohammad 48 hours before? Why couldn't you airlift troops? Is it more expensive than the lives of our jawans?”

“On the one hand, we were picking up pieces of the martryed jawans, the PM, on the other hand, was filming a documentary. During 26/11, Shivraj Patil had resigned, owning moral responsibility. On whether India should avoid playing cricket with Pakistan, this is a government decision. We have seen the statement by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and we don't disagree.”

On K.J. Alphons denying that he had taken a selfie and has filed a complaint with the Kerala police, Mr. Surjewala said, “this is wisdom in hindsight.”

“India has always been known for its hospitality but today we are facing a peculiar situation where the guest [Mohammed bin Salman] has rewarded Pakistan with a 20 billion dollars,” he said.

Asked if the Congress is politicising, Mr. Surjewala said, "As I said in the beginning and as reiterated by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, we stand behind the armed forces and the government in whatever steps they take to tackle terror. But when the conduct of the Prime Minister, BJP president and members of the national executive members have been such, then questions will be asked."