New Delhi: Mallikarjun Kharge Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi called off his trip to Kashmir only “three days” before the Pahalgam attack. The Congress national president claimed that he based the allegation on an “intelligence report” that advised the PM to cancel the visit.
Addressing a ‘Samvidhan Bachao (Save the Constitution)’ rally in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, where the Congress is a member of the ruling coalition led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Mallikarjun Kharge demanded to know why the Centre did not beef up security despite intelligence alerts on the movement of terrorists.
“The government admitted an intelligence failure and pledged to address it. When you (government) were aware, why did you not make good arrangements? It is our first question. I also got information, and newspapers have also reported that three days before the attack, Modi ji received an intelligence report, and that is why Modi ji cancelled his visit to Kashmir. I read it in a paper,” Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Kharge emphasised that the availability of such intelligence should have prompted the deployment of adequate security in the Baisaran Valley in Pahalgam, which tourists frequented.
“When an intelligence report says that it is not proper to go there from the point of view of security, why did you not direct your security apparatus, the local police and border force to protect people? When you got the information, you cancelled your programme but did not send more forces to protect tourists there,” Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Twenty-six people were killed in the Pahalgam attack on 22 April. Since then, the Congress’s top leadership, including Kharge, has been questioning the lapses leading to the attack while refraining from directly targeting the PM.
The party was so particular about its calculated restraint that it deleted a social media post by its team to taunt Modi. The image, captioned ‘Gayab (Missing)’, portrayed the PM as absent during a crisis.
After its deletion, the party issued a circular, advising its leaders not to stray from the line drawn by the Congress Working Committee resolution on the Pahalgam attack and public pronouncements made by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Kharge.
“There should be absolutely no doubt whatsoever at this most sensitive of times that the CWC resolution, the views expressed by Shri Mallikarjun Kharge and Shri Rahul Gandhi, and the views of authorised AICC office-bearers alone, represent the position of the Indian National Congress,” said the circular.
On Tuesday, as Mallikarjun Kharge struck a different note, he reiterated that the Congress will support the steps taken by the government against Pakistan in the fight against terrorism.
“Because this is a matter of national security. The country comes first; everything else is secondary. We have made sacrifices for this nation,” Kharge said.
Last week, Rahul called for decisive action from the Centre, saying Modi should act against the attackers without “wasting time”.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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