NEW DELHI: On Monday Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu questioned the airstrikes conducted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Jaish-e-Mohammed camps in Pakistan. Tweeting comments of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on the airstrikes, he asked if the strike was just an election gimmick.
He tweeted "300 terrorist dead, Yes or No? What was the purpose then? Were you uprooting terrorist or trees? Was it an election gimmick? Deceit possesses our land in guise of fighting a foreign enemy. Stop politicising the army, it is as sacred as the state,". He also tweeted a photo with a quote, "In war, truth is the first casualty".
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In a remark that had embarrassed his party Congress earlier, he had said that Pakistan should not be blamed for the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel had been martyred. Congress too had attempted to distance itself from his comments calling it his personal opinion.
Amid demands that Sidhu be sacked as Punjab state minister, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari had said: "There is a time to act and a time to talk. Dialogue can only take place when the atmosphere is conducive for it. The current atmosphere is not conducive. If Navjot Singh Sidhu has an opinion, that is his personal opinion and not that of the Congress."
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He had also drawn ire after he was all praises for Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for releasing IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman from captivity. "@ImranKhanPTI Every noble act makes a way for itself... your goodwill gesture is ‘a cup of joy’ for a billion people, a nation rejoices... I am overjoyed for his parents and loved ones (sic)," he wrote on Twitter on Thursday.