"He Insults Soldiers": Amit Shah On Rahul Gandhi's Surgical Strike Remark

BJP chief Amit Shah Saturday alleged that Congress president Rahul Gandhi was insulting Army soldiers killed by claiming that the 2016 surgical strike across the LoC was conducted to win the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

He said that today Army jawans have developed a sense of pride that their government is standing behind them rock solid.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi took revenge for Army martyrs. Rahul Gandhi is saying that surgical strike was conducted to win Uttar Pradesh election. You insult the martyrs of the country. You could not even show some courage," Mr Shah said at a public meeting in Phalodi town of Jodhpur district in Rajasthan.

Addressing a gathering at Udaipur in poll-bound Rajasthan earlier Saturday, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the surgical strike was made public as the BJP was fighting elections in Uttar Pradesh.

He also told the gathering, "Like during the Narendra Modi government, surgical strike was conducted thrice during Manmohan Singh government. Are you aware of it? Modi actually reached into the Army's domain and shaped surgical strike into a political asset."

Hitting out at the Congress, Mr Shah said, "On one hand there is a troop of patriots under leadership of Narendra Modi and on the other hand there is a troop which doesn't have a leader, policy and principles."

He also took a dig at Mr Gandhi's party for not declaring its chief ministerial candidate, and wondered how can an "army" win which has not been able to finalise its leader.