Parkash Singh Badal terms Balakot surgical strike ‘fantastic’, says country safe in Modi’s hands

Former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has called the surgical strikes undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi led NDA government as fantastic. In a reference to PM Modi, the Shiromani Akali Dal chief said that post-Balakot strikes, both citizens and the armed forces feel that the country is in safe hands. The 92-year-old leader also extended his support to PM Modi and said that he wants another term for Modi-led government at the Centre. The grand old man of Punjab politics also asked the citizens to choose their PM very carefully.

On Thursday, hitting out at Congress party over claims that during the UPA regime, six surgical strikes were conducted, Union Minister Rajya Vardhan Singh Rathore said that he knows very well and aware of everything that had exactly happened.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also slammed the grand old party and called the surgical strikes done under UPA government as farcical and fraudulent. BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said that BJP has great respect for the armed forces. Rao further claimed that Indian armed forces have the capability to conduct surgical strikes but UPA government never permitted that. Rao also accused Congress of not taking action against the terrorists.

Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, senior Congress leader Rajiv Shukla claimed that during the prime ministership of Dr Manmohan Singh from 2004 to 2014, the government had conducted six surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC) in Pakistan. Shukla also said that one surgical strike was carried out on June 19, 2008 at Jammu and Kashmir’s Bhattal sector, on August 30 to September 1, 2011 in Sharda sector, on January 6, 2013 at Sawan Patra check post, July 27 to 28, 2013 at Nazapir sector, August 6, 2013, at Neelam valley and other one on January 14, 2014.

Meanwhile, speaking at a rally at Rajasthan’s Hindaun City on Friday, the Prime Minister said that declaring JeM chief Masood Azhar as an international terrorist by the United Nations was the third surgical strike on the neighbouring country.