No Records Of Any Surgical Strike Under UPA Regime, Says PM Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose comments over the last week or so have ruffled many feathers, has once again questioned the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)'s claim about the surgical strikes, saying as far as he knew no such operation was launched under his predecessor.

Modi quoted army chiefs of the time to draw home his point. “What kind of surgical strike was it? Who issued the orders? Where are the orders? These are the questions they [UPA] should be asked to answer,” Hindustan Times quoted him as saying.

“I can only say that we have not found any records of this”.

Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which had conducted surgical strikes in the aftermath of Uri terror attack in 2016 and air strikes after an assault on a paramilitary convoy resulted in the deaths of over 40 jawans in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, has made national security the mainstay of its political campaign this Lok Sabha election.

“For a decade or so, the Indian government had tied its own hands as far as Pakistan-backed terror was concerned. Pakistan kept mounting attacks and there was no cost imposed upon the perpetrators. This gave terrorists and their sponsors a kind of impunity that we can do anything and get away. First with the surgical strike and now with the air strike, we have sent the message that there will now be significant costs to sponsoring terror,” Modi told the national daily.

However, last week, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had lambasted the Modi regime, accusing it of using the armed forces to garner votes.

Modi dismissed the contention that his strategy would worsen matters between two nations.

“They will be aware that their strategy of sponsoring terror against India will be detrimental to their own existence”, nor does this put pressure on the government to up the ante the next time there is an attack, he said. “So out of fear of that pressure, we should do nothing?” he asked.

PM Modi once again expressed confidence that he would return to power come May 23, adding he had been confident of this since the day he first became the head of the Indian state.

The prime minister was on Wednesday in Delhi where he addressed a rally at the historic Ramlila Maidan and continued his attack on the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.