New Delhi | Former Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, claimed that during Congress rule they had also carried out a number of surgical strikes but they never boasted it.
“Multiple surgical strikes took place during our [UPA] tenure, too. For us, military operations were meant for strategic deterrence and giving a befitting reply to anti-India forces than to be used for vote garnering exercises,” said Dr.Manmohan Singh, in a veiled reference to BJP using the Balakot airstrikes in their campaign speeches.
In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times, he said, “In the past 70 years, a government in power never had to hide behind the valour of our armed forces. Such attempts to politicize our forces are shameful and unacceptable.”
He compared PM Modi to the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and said,” Neither Mrs Gandhi, nor her predecessor took away the credit of our armed forces in winning these wars”.
When asked if he would undo any actions taken during the 26/11, he answered, “In the absence of facts, everyone can re-judge history in hindsight… different geopolitical conditions require different responses. Our response was to isolate and diplomatically expose Pakistan as a terror hub, besides rallying the international community for decisive action against terrorists. We succeeded too,” said Dr Manmohan Singh.
He said they got 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed in the UN list of glocal terrorists.
“UPA got China to agree to declare Hafiz Saeed as a global terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of UN and also ensured that a $10m bounty was placed on his head,” he said.
“Our response was to isolate and diplomatically expose Pakistan as a terror hub”.
Slamming the Modi government for the demonetisation and the GST, he said, “Modi promised 20 million jobs per year, but demonetisation and a flawed GST snatched over 40 million jobs. Joblessness and unemployment is at a 45-year high of 6.1%”.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
