"The army is an apolitical institution and must be left apolitical," said Jyotiraditya Scindia (File)
Opposition leaders on Monday charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making the extraordinary threat of a nuclear war to influence voters amid the ongoing national elections, after the Prime Minister warned Pakistan at a poll rally in Rajasthan that India's "nuclear button" was not "for Diwali". The nuclear button and the army "is not the property of one individual," senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia told NDTV but for showing India was not afraid of its neighbour anymore.
"Every other day they announced, "We have nuclear button, we have nuclear button". So what do we have then? Are those being saved for Diwali?" PM Modi had said in Rajasthan's Barmer.
Condemning PM Modi's remarks, Mr Scindia said the BJP only stood for the politicisation of "every single institution" of the country.
His party colleague and former Home Minister P Chidambaram echoed similar sentiments.
The BJP has built its election campaign around national security ever since tension between India and Pakistan escalated after a terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.
Seizing the opportunity to attack the BJP, former ally Mehbooba Mufti reacted to PM Modi's comments as well with a jibe of her own.
In yet another tweet, Ms Mufti attacked the BJP's methods of conducting political discourse, questioning whether one needs to be "enthusiastic about nuclear war to earn the credentials of a true patriot."
Hours after Ms Mufti's comments, National Conference Chief Omar Abdullah said both PM Modi and the PDP chief had treated the issue as seriously as playing a mobile game.
After the Pulwama attack, India said it had destroyed a terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot with air strikes.
Congress and other opposition parties claimed the centre had not provided credible evidence of the attacks being successful, leading to several counter-attacks by the BJP.
"Army jawans don't count bodies, only eagles do," Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today, adding if former prime minister Indira Gandhi was praised after the 1971 war with Pakistan, why can't PM Modi be applauded for giving Pakistan a befitting reply.