BJP President Amit Shah is either lying or he has breached national security when he claims that the precision strikes by the Indian Air Force killed over 250 persons in Balakot in Pakistan, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Monday.
Reacting to Air Force Chief B.S. Dhanoa’s statement that it was not for the Air Force to count the dead, Mr. Yechury tweeted: “Air Force has not counted, the government is speaking in multiple voices, but the BJP Party President is dishing out numbers. If he has access to secret information, which even IAF Chief does not have, its a breach of national security. If not, he is lying.”
Speaking at a press conference later, Mr Yechury said there was an “orchestrated effort” by the BJP and the RSS to rouse “jingoistic nationalism” after the Pulwama terror attack.
CPI leader D Raja also pointed out that while the Prime Minister was accusing the Opposition of politicising Pulwama and the air strikes, his party’s president was using it to canvass for votes. “Amit Shah is complicating [the issue] by saying 250 killed. Who gave him that figure? They are... dragging our defence sources into their dirty politics to win elections.”