Opposition parties in West Bengal on Saturday shared a video of Union Minister of State S.S. Ahluwalia who can be heard saying that the air strikes in Pakistan were only to deliver a warning and that neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor any of the party spokespersons had claimed that 300 people were killed.
“After the incident, Modiji gave a speech; did he say that 300 people have been killed? Did any BJP spokesperson say that? Did Amit Shah say that? The reason there was no large-scale destruction was because we wanted to put across the message that we are capable of destruction if needed. We did not want any human casualty,” Mr. Ahluwalia was seen telling reporters.
West Bengal Congress vice-president Om Prakash Mishra shared the video on social media and said, “No terrorists killed in Pakistan by our airstrike.” The official Twitter handle of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) — @cpimspeak — also shared the video and targeted the Prime Minister.
“If what the minister says is correct, then what it means is that the Modi Govt has connived with lies pedalled by the jingoistic media & taken the country for a ride,” the CPI(M) tweeted.