“I don’t want to say anything more now… but I will not apologise. There is no need… I did not make any wrong comment,”
New Delhi:
Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan has refused to apologise for his remark on Operation Sindoor – that India was “defeated on Day 1” of the military engagement with Pakistan in May. “I will not say sorry… haven’t said anything wrong and have nothing to apologise for,” he said Wednesday.
“I don’t want to say anything more now… but I will not apologise. There is no need… I did not make any wrong comment,” Chavan insisted, adding fuel to a fire that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will, no doubt, use to excoriate its arch-rival, the Congress, in Parliament this week.
The former Maharashtra Chief Minister kicked up a storm this week after claiming Indian military aircraft were shot down by Pak forces on the first day of Operation Sindoor. Speaking at an event in Pune, he also declared the Indian Air Force had been “completely grounded” as a result.
Chavan doubled down on those comments this morning and drew scathing responses from the BJP, for whom Brij Lal, a BJP Rajya Sabha MP and ex-Uttar Pradesh Police top cop, responded.
“I strongly condemn this statement. The Congress has always been pro-Pakistani and has always humiliated the country. Their leader, Rahul Gandhi, whenever he goes abroad, insults India. The whole country is watching… and the public will teach the Congress a lesson.”
The Congress, meanwhile, has reacted swiftly; the party’s Rajya Sabha MP, Pramod Tiwari, hailed the Indian Army as a “world-conquering force”, but snuck in a jab at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding “…under the political leadership of Indira Gandhi…”
Operation Sindoor was India’s armed response to the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. Nine terrorist bases in Pakistan and Pak-occupied Kashmir were destroyed. That prompted a counter-attack that never troubled India’s missile defence system.
Pak launched hundreds of armed drones and missiles at Indian military bases and civilian centres, but these were shot down or disabled; the few that struck did little to no damage.
Pak also lost at least four fighter jets – United States-made F-16s and Chinese J-17s – Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said in October. Precision strikes by India also disabled radar systems, Command & Control centres, and runways, hangars and other military infrastructure, he said.
On claims Pak shot down Indian planes, including at least one of the newly-purchased Rafales, the Air Chief Marshal was emphatic, dismissing them as propaganda to fool Pak citizens.
