Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PHOTO: FILE
A leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has vidicated Pakistan's stance and said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi escalated the current situation between the two countries in the hopes of securing more seats in the coming elections.
"The atmosphere....day by day, the wind is increasingly blowing in favour of the BJP,” the NDTV quoted BS Yeddyurappa, chief of BJP in Karnataka.
“Tuesday’s action of destroying terror hideouts by entering inside Pakistan has resulted in a pro-Modi wave in the country, the results of which can be seen in coming Lok Sabha polls.”
Pakistan uses back channels to defuse tensions with India
The BJP leader's statement highlights the war rhetoric pushed by the Indian government in the aftermath of the February 14 attack in Pulwama.
India was quick to blame the state of Pakistan for the suicide bombing carried out by a native of the Indian occupied Kashmir (IOK) – killing 44 soldiers.
Prime Minister Imran Khan offered every possible help in the investigation, but India turned down the offer and whipped up war hysteria.
Pakistan on Wednesday announced it had shot down two Indian fighter jets that attempted to violate its airspace and captured an Indian pilot.
The military’s media wing later released a video of the pilot, who introduced himself as Wing Commander Abhinandan bearing service number 27981.
The development came a day after the country’s civil and military leadership declared the violation of airspace by Indian fighter jets “uncalled for aggression” and decided that the country would respond at a “time and place of its choosing”.
Gloating over the escalation, the BJP leader added that the incident had “enthused youth” in India and it will “help us [BJP] in winning more than 22 Lok Sabha seats [in Karnataka]”.
Shiv Sena warns BJP against using Pulwama attack for political gains
Yeddyurappa’s statement garnered a strong response from Congress party. "They have no shame. The country is tense, our pilot is in Pakistan's custody, soldiers' families are worried, and BJP is counting seats...Such lowdown politics,” the party said in a tweet.
As the tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours rise, the opposition parties in India chided the Modi-led government for blatant use of the country’s armed forces for political gains.
“The prime minister has, regrettably, not convened an all-party meeting as per the established practice in our democracy,” read a joint-statement issued by 21 opposition parties.
Earlier, the far-right Hindutva party, Shiv Sena warned the incumbent government to not “behave in a way that would fuel allegations that it was trying to wage a war” with Pakistan merely to influence the upcoming general elections.
Criticising the Modi-led government over the handling of the Pulwama attack, the Shiv Sena said India’s intelligence officials can “trace an e-mail purportedly referring to a threat to the prime minister’s life but they fail to stop a terror attack on a convoy”.
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