PM continued shooting for film after Pulwama attack, alleges Congress

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his “propaganda and publicity” and stayed put in the area till the evening of February 14 despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day, the Congress on Thursday alleged, citing reports in a section of the media.
Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, addressing a press conference, also accused BJP president Amit Shah of “politicization of terrorism” in his speech in Assam on Sunday.
At a public rally in Assam’s Lakhimpur district, Shah had said the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the previous Congress dispensation, will not “compromise” on any security issue.
On Thursday, attending a BJP event in Andhra Pradesh’s Rajahmundry city, Shah hit back at the Congress and accused it of using the Pulwama terror attack for its “political interests”.
“They created an issue of PM Modi’s presence in a programme on the day of the attack. But I want to tell them that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue to work 18 hours a day,” the BJP national president said.
Launching an all-out attack on the government and the prime minister over the Pulwama terror strike, Surjewala alleged, “In his hunger for power, the prime minister has forgotten “raj dharma” (duty of governance).”
Citing reports in some Hindi newspapers, Surjewala gave a timeline of events saying the terror attack happened at 3:10 pm on February 14 with the Congress reacting to it at 5:15 pm.
“The prime minister also knew about it. Yet the PM, a person who claims himself to be a nationalist, continues to shoot a film (for Discovery Channel) for self propagation in the Corbett National Park in Ramnagar,” he claimed. The Congress spokesperson alleged that the prime minister continued to “enjoy boat rides” with the camera crew and later ensured that there. “The prime minister continues to have tea, samosas at seven o’clock at government expense in a PWD guesthouse when every single Indian household didn’t have food,” he said.
On one hand the country was picking up the “pieces of our martyrs”, and on the other hand the prime minister was involved in his “propaganda and publicity”, Surjewala claimed.
“Can such a conduct be expected from the prime minister of a country. The prime minister should have been chairing the cabinet committee on security immediately and should have taken action, instead of shooting films,” he said.
Surjewala said the Congress had shown restrain on the direction of party president Rahul Gandhi, but it was important to raise issues of such conduct that “insults martyrs”.
“The Congress party and the entire nation stands united with our armed forces as also our government in every step that they take in tackling Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. We are determined in that resolve even today,” he said. Surjewala said questions must be asked about the “gross intelligence failure” of this government and on the “priorities of a prime minister who on a sensitive time like this has gone on a foreign tour to South Korea instead of tackling terrorism”. (PTI)