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Kharge stated that the lives of 26 innocent people could have been saved if the government provided adequate security to tourists.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge | File Image/PTI
Amid the ongoing backlash over Rahul Gandhi’s comment on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday questioned why the Modi government did not provide security to the tourists when they themselves cancelled the Prime Minister’s scheduled visit to Kashmir in April, suspecting an attack in the valley.
Kharge’s remarks came in reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s April visit to Srinagar. However, the visit was called off following credible intelligence about an imminent attack in the valley.
“I asked a question and I am yet to get a response. PM Modi was supposed to go to Kashmir on April 17, but his intelligence department told him not to go saying there could be violence. They cancelled off the program,” Kharge said.
“If they knew this, why didn’t they inform the tourist through the police, asking them to not go, saying there could be trouble. We could have saved 26 lives and a small war and conflict with Pakistan,” he added.
Kharge Questions Modi Govt
Earlier in May, before the launch of Operation Sindoor, Kharge while addressing a rally in Jharkhand pointed the finger at the government over its handling of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, asking the government why it did not take appropriate measures despite having intelligence about a possible terror attack in Kashmir.
“I have received information that days before the attack, an intelligence report was sent to Prime Minister Modi, and based on that, he cancelled his programme to visit Kashmir,” Kharge had alleged, adding, “If intelligence could warn that it wasn’t safe for you (the PM) to go there, why didn’t you take proper steps to protect the tourists and civilians?”
Operation Sindoor was launched on May 7 in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, in which 26 innocent people were killed. India avenged the April 22 Pahalgam attack by launching a missile attack on nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
BJP Reacts
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra slammed the Congress chief and said that Operation Sindoor is a small thing for Congress.
“Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge are not able to understand that India destroyed 9 terrorist camps and killed more that 100 terrorists through Operation Sindoor. Rahul Gandhi has become poster boy of Pakistan. Congress is giving oxygen to Pakistan,” he said.
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