The Congress on Monday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his claim that he asked the Indian Air Force to conduct air strikes in Balakot in Pakistan despite cloudy weather. “In 70 years, no prime minister mocked military might,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted. “But Modi considered his ‘raw wisdom’ superior to the professionalism of the Army. He is so busy garnering votes in the name of the military that he insulted the Army.” Surjewala alleged that Modi had “disrespected war strategy”, and committed an “unforgivable crime”. In an interview to News Nation on Saturday, Modi claimed to have given the Indian Air Force the green signal to proceed with airstrikes in Pakistan’s Balakot area on February 26 despite bad weather because “the clouds could actually help our planes escape the radars”. The prime minister also claimed to have used his “raw wisdom” to dispel the doubts of defence experts planning the Balakot mission. “I am surprised that the country’s pundits who abuse me never figured this out,” he added. 70 सालों में किसी PM ने सैन्य शक्ति की दक्षता का माखौल नहीं उड़ाया,पर मोदीजी ने अपनी Raw Wisdom को सेना के Professionalism से ऊपर रखा। सेना के नाम पर वोट बटोरने में वे इतने लीन हैं कि सेना का ही अपमान कर दिया। शेखीबाज़ी में मोदीजी ने युद्धनीति का निरादर कर, किया अक्षम्य अपराध! pic.twitter.com/4bGQgvnV5m — Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) May 13, 2019 Another Congress spokesperson, Pawan Khera, said Modi was publicising matters that should be kept confidential, PTI reported. “Prime minister is proudly saying that I overruled experts,” he said. “A number of other veterans have condemned this.” Khera said people were cracking jokes about the prime minister’s comment. He added that the country has been entrusted in the hands of a prime minister who does not know the difference between a weather radar and an avionics radar. “Even if he did not know, he should hide his lack of knowledge rather than display it,” Khera said. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, in a tweet, mocked Modi. “Balakot secret revealed by Modi: “I thought there are clouds, we can escape radar. Ok, go ahead, chal pade [they began their mission],” he said. “Gave clarity to experts confused about launching in bad weather. What a leader, what a mind!” “We now know that no radar can penetrate Modi’s clouded mind,” he added. Balakot secret revealed by Modi : “ I thought there are clouds , we can escape radar . Ok , go ahead , chal pade “ Gave clarity to experts confused about launching in bad weather What a leader , what a mind ! We now know that : No radar can penetrate Modi’s clouded mind ! — Kapil Sibal (@KapilSibal) May 13, 2019 Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury wrote to the Election Commission on Sunday, demanding action against Modi. The CPI(M) general secretary said the prime minister appeared to be violating the poll panel’s rules with “impunity with damaging consequences for our democracy”, and urged the commission to note that Modi claimed to have “killed the terrorists [himself] not our armed forces”. The airstrikes – which the Indian government described as a “non-military preemptive action” – were conducted 12 days after a terror attack in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir killed 40 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force. The Jaish-e-Mohammed group, whose leaders are based in Pakistan, had claimed responsibility. India claimed that the strike resulted in the deaths of a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis”.<doc-sep>Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again come under sharp attack from the Opposition leaders, and this time it is for his claim about airstrikes on terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot. In an interview to a TV channel, News Nation, Modi, speaking of airstrikes on terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot, said it was a usual day for him as he was busy with party programmes. "I first reviewed the operation at around 9-9:30 PM. The problem we faced was that of bad weather. It had rained heavily that day. I am amazed people who criticised me didn't take notice of this fact." Modi, then, explained how his inputs helped execute the operation. "At around 12, we had second thoughts about the entire thing," he said, adding, "we had doubts if we would be able to go." "I said the overcast conditions could actually help. This weather and rain could help our aircraft escape the radar," Modi said. The prime minister said that I still gave the operation a go-ahead and received first reports at 3:20 AM. But Modi's claims haven't gone down well with the Opposition leaders and defence experts. National Conference chief Omar Abdullah took to Twitter and made light of Modi's claims. In an acerbic tweet, Abdullah wrote: "Pakistani radar doesn’t penetrate clouds. This is an important piece of tactical information that will be critical when planning future air strikes." Pakistani radar doesn’t penetrate clouds. This is an important piece of tactical information that will be critical when planning future air strikes. https://t.co/OBHwEJfGSW — Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 11, 2019 CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, though, had a critical take on Modi's claims. National security is not something to be trifled with. Such an irresponsible statement from Modi is highly damaging. Somebody like this can’t remain India’s PM. https://t.co/wK992b1kuJ — Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) May 11, 2019 Even the Congress party wasn't far behind. Sharing a screenshot of Modi's comment on Twitter, the party handle labelled it another "jumla." Jumla hi fekta raha paanch saal ki sarkar mein, Socha tha cloudy hai mausam, Nahi aaunga radar mein. pic.twitter.com/xDeOg4Yq5K — Congress (@INCIndia) May 12, 2019 As soon as Narendra Modi's comment was tweeted out, users on microblogging site started sharing their responses too. Here are some interesting tweets. Chalo radar technology Ko Vannakam ðÂÂÂÂÂÂðÂÂÂÂÂÂ Modi ji aap mahan ho ... Eek aapka ' NALI se GAS ' wala aur eek ye ' RADAR - CLOUD ' wala technology, puri duniya hamesh hamesa ke liye yaad rakhegi ðÂÂÂÂÂÂ ðÂÂÂÂÂÂðÂÂ¤¦ðÂÂÂÂ»‍âÂÂÂÂï¸ÂÂðÂÂÂÂÂÂðÂÂ¤£ pic.twitter.com/NuphNi7jTb — Veena D (@The_veenaD) May 11, 2019 For in-depth, objective and more importantly balanced journalism, Click here to subscribe to Outlook Magazine<doc-sep>
A political row broke out on Sunday over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments in a television interview over the timing of the Balakot air strikes. In this interview, PM Modi had outlined how the government had decided to go ahead with the strike at Jaish-e-Mohammed’s biggest terror training camp despite a cloud cover. “The weather suddenly turned bad. There was a doubt about whether we can strike in bad weather. During a review (of the Balakot plan), experts said what if we change the date. I had two issues in mind. One was secrecy... second, I said I have a raw vision, the clouds can benefit us too. We can escape the radar. Everyone was confused. Ultimately I said there are clouds... let’s proceed,” he told News Nation on Saturday. Read: ‘Will jawans take EC’s permission before shooting terrorists?’: PM Modi When contacted senior Indian Air Force officer, a fighter pilot involved in Balakot strikes planning, said : “The radars, most probably Swedish Giraffe, used by Pakistanis can see through the cloud cover, but the kill system or missile (probably RBS 70) used to bring down the intruder is equipped with an infra-red homing head. It is the infra-red seeker that get degraded during cloud cover. And hence the difficulty in knocking out the intruding fighter.” PM Modi’s comment nevertheless triggered a series of reaction on social media from opposition parties. It didn’t help that the BJP’s Twitter handle, which tweeted the PM’s remark soon after the interview, deleted it later. Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah was among the first politicians to take a swipe at the Prime Minister. “Looks like the tweet got lost in the clouds. Luckily there are screen shots floating around to help,” Abdullah tweeted, adding, “Pakistani radar doesn’t penetrate clouds. This is an important piece of tactical information that will be critical when planning future air strikes.” The Left leader Sitaram Yechury said: “National security is not something to be trifled with. Such an irresponsible statement from Modi is highly damaging. Somebody like this can’t remain India’s PM.” “#EntireCloudCover is a blockbuster clip. It will be used in the Indian Institute of Science as a case-study,” national spokesperson of the Congress Sanjay Jha tweeted. On February 27, the Indian Air Force had carried out the airstrikes at the Jaish camp deep inside Pakistan. The government said the strikes were designed to destroy the training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed for the Pulwama suicide bombing 13 days earlier. Forty CRPF soldiers were killed in the February 14 bombing, the deadliest terror attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in three decades.