Bhubaneswar, Oct. 3: Former JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar today criticised the Narendra Modi government for patting itself on the back for the surgical strike to divert attention from its failures.

Stating that the "surgical strike should not have been made public, he said the government only was trying to use it for electoral gain. Kumar, however, made it clear that he appreciated the Indian Army's retaliatory attack.

"I salute the jawans for their valiant efforts to protect the country and at these difficult times, we must all stand united against terrorism. It is unfortunate that the government is busy promoting itself and boasting away," said Kanhaiya, who was in the city to take part in Azadi Samavesh, an event organised to mark All-India Students Federation's 80th anniversary.

"When the government has failed miserably to keep its promises, it has resorted to blowing its own trumpet saying it has taught Pakistan a lesson. Who says that Pakistan should not be taught a lesson? I wish all the 545 MPs are asked to arm themselves and go to Pakistan to teach it a lesson," he said.

Mentioning that the tension between the India and Pakistan was driving both countries to an unending cycle of violence, he hoped for a non-military solution.

"What is need of punishing Pakistan, which is dying anyway without food and water? What is the need for violence in a country where the Shias are killing Sunnis and Sunnis are taking on Shias and the remaining are killed by the Taliban? What is the point in attacking a country that is already struggling to meet its needs of food, education and employment?" he said.

"There is a need for war but the war should be against unemployment, poverty and inequality. Why compete with nations such as Pakistan when we should be competing with nations such as America and China? Our struggle is to make our country prosperous and that should be important to us," he said.

He said he was not against Narendra Modi, but he was against the propagation of falsehood. At the same time, he appreciated Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik for severing its alliance with the BJP following the Kandhamal violence.

"In a democratic country, the Constitution gives us the right to express these differences. We have no personal enmity with you. There are ideological differences with you because we want to see our country developed, we need to come up with better ideas and policies. The government should not take away our right to question. The country will not prosper, if sedition charges are slapped against students who dare to question polices and intention of the government," the student leader said.

"But we suspect both the policies and the intention of the government. For this reason, we are opposed to Narendra Modi. We do not have personal enmity with him. We have ideological differences with you and the government must stop propagating falsehood," he said in his speech.

Earlier, the ABVP, the BJP student wing, launched a series of protests and made every effort to stop the event. While a group of students set the stage on fire and damaged a part of it, another group poured black ink on Kanhaiya's car, which triggered a clash between them and the visiting leader's supporters leaving five injured. The police picked up 12 ABVP activists.

Close to the venue, two women were detained after they tried to wave black flags at Kanhaiya in protest against his visit. The cops also arrested another youth who tried to hurl him shoe at the organisers of the event.