BJP legislator R.S. Pathania has kicked up a row after he purportedly questioned the role of Indian Air Force personnel at the Udhampur base during Operation Sindoor and allegedly used derogatory words for them, prompting the Congress to ask the party to apologise.

The BJP has defended the legislator, saying his statement has been twisted.

Udhampur East MLA Pathania issued a video statement, too, denying the use of foul language against the force.

In a video uploaded by the Congress and other social media handles, Pathania appears to be ridiculing the IAF at Udhampur for its performance during Operation Sindoor. The IAF lost a soldier to a Pakistani attack at the base.

“Everybody knows what happened at the air force station, it was their incompetence, they were sleeping. What is our fault? We have (otherwise) held them in very high esteem,” a man resembling Pathania says in the video.

The MLA, in a video following the controversy, defended his stand against the IAF’s land acquisition in the area but denied abusing the soldiers. He said he is proud of the army and his video had been “edited and morphed”.

BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir chief Sat Pal Sharma defended his colleague. “It has come to my notice and I have spoken to Pathaniaji. The statement has been twisted. Pathaniaji has lodged an FIR in this regard. Let the results come. After that, we will talk about it,” he told a news agency.

The Congress said the statement was shameful and reprehensible. “It is an insult to our army and our brave soldiers. This is not the first time. Earlier, BJP minister Vijay Shah and Madhya Pradesh deputy chief minister Jagdish Devda had also made objectionable remarks against our soldiers, but the BJP did not take any action.

“The BJP should apologise to the entire country and the army on this matter and should dismiss Ranbir Pathania from his post. If the BJP does not take any action against its MLA, then it will be considered as the thinking and statement of Narendra Modi and the BJP,” the party said.

Pathania on Wednesday joined a protest in a village in Udhampur where he accused the IAF and the local administration of violating the legal rights of landowners by taking over their land stretching from Dhar Road up to the air force station at Udhampur “without paying any compensation to rightful claimants”.

He said notices had been issued to locals asking them to vacate the land.