New Delhi, Feb. 17: The government and the BJP today described as "sacrilege" criticism of army chief Gen. Bipin Rawat by the Opposition, particularly the Congress, over his comments about Kashmiri youths and asked them not to stoop so low as to lower the armed forces' morale.
"The entire nation is indebted to the army. We are safe because the armed forces protect the borders. Irrespective of political affiliations, nobody should belittle the contributions of the army. It is a sacrilege, a sin," minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, Jitendra Singh, said at a news conference.
Rawat had said a few days ago that the army would treat youths holding flags of the Islamic State and Pakistan "as anti-nationals". "We would now request the local population that people who have picked up arms, and they are the local boys, if they want to continue with the acts of terrorism, displaying flags of the ISIS and Pakistan, then we will treat them as anti-national elements and go helter-skelter for them. They may survive today but we will get them tomorrow...."
Today, Singh said: "Nobody is more concerned about Kashmiri youths than the Indian army. Rawat's statement was inspired by his concern; a humble appeal to the youth to not risk their lives was projected as a threat.... The army chief was only trying to avoid collateral damage, telling the boys not to come in the firing line."
The minister described the Opposition's criticism as "unfortunate". "Here the army chief's mindset is being questioned. Separatist and semi-separatist jargons are used by parties, particularly the Congress...."
The Congress had not taken up the issue officially but senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who hails from Kashmir, had "blamed the government for the situation in Kashmir". "Even we ran the government, why was it not so bad then? To threaten the Kashmiri youth like this is unjustified. Over a thousand kids lost their eyes (to pellet injuries) last year."
Another senior Congress leader, P. Chidambaram, had termed the army chief's comments "intemperate". "It is a political problem which needs a political solution and a political outreach. I am worried and I request the government to halt this approach and adopt a different one. More infiltration and more encounters are taking place in the state and things are getting very bad."
National Conference spokesperson Junaid Azim Mattu called for "constructive political action", not threats of merciless retaliation. "At this juncture, the worst thing New Delhi could possibly do is warn the alienated seething youth of Kashmir through army chiefs. Tragic. Mobs rushing to encounter sites should concern us and alarm us into constructive political action."
The BJP, however, slammed the Congress over its criticism of the army and, by doing so, hoped to gain mileage in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh polls.
The Congress, too, hit back with alacrity. Party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked minister Singh if the morale of the armed forces wasn't affected when Modi "feasted" with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2015, when he invited the ISI to investigate the Pathankot terror attack, when 188 jawans were killed in 30 months, when terrorists' kin were given compensation and when BJP members were caught "running a racket to spy on the army" for the ISI.
