ASSERTING that the country is safe under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday accused the Congress of weakening the fight against Jehadi terrorists, and wondered if the party could be trusted by voters in the upcoming general elections. In a blog, Jaitley said the Congress party is one with the Government on condemning Pulwama terror attack resulting in death of 40 CRPF jawans, but is disturbed about air strikes in Balakot, Pakistan. He said the Congress has repeatedly rubbished the surgical strikes of September 2016 and contends that they have either taken place in the past also or alternatively they never took place under Prime Minister Modi. “On the airstrikes, their conduct is even more dubious,” the Minister said. While giving “lip sympathy” to the Indian Air Force for the first two days, the Congress started a multi-pronged attack and questioned the success of the strikes.

 

 

 

 

The grand old party, Jaitley said, started demanding proof that terrorists had died at Balakot and even contended that the strike had taken place not against terror but to ensure Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in the forthcoming elections.

 

 

 

 

 

“This was a self-goal by the Congress in domestic politics. This was also playing into the hands of Pakistan where statements of Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, were played out on television channels in Pakistan.

“Pakistan Government cited these statements to bolster their own falsehood,” Jaitley said in the blog titled ‘Agenda 2019 – Part - 2: Prime Minister Modi’s Evolving National Security Doctrine’. He further said the Congress had no structured plan during ten years of UPA on how to deal with the problems of Jammu and Kashmir. “Prime Minister Modi inherited this as a legacy issue. He experimented the conventional method of trying to soften the relationship with Pakistan in a hope that wiser sense would prevail, but Pakistan responded with Pathankot, Uri and Pulwama.