Narendra Modi accuses Congress of insulting national heroes

Union Minister and BJP leader Sadananda Gowda campaigns for party candidate Aswathnarayan in Bengaluru. Pic/PTI

Playing the nationalism card, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused the Congress of "insulting national heroes" and the Indian Army by "questioning" the veracity of the cross-border surgical strikes. He also said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi "disrespected" the national song.

"Forgetting the national heroes, patriots and history is the nature of a family in the Congress. (Jawaharlal) Nehru and V K Krishna Menon insulted General (KS) Thimayya, who had to resign. They neglected General (K M) Cariappa," Modi told an election rally in Kalaburagi in Karnataka.

Invoking Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the prime minister said the independent India's first home minister was instrumental in forcing the Nizam of Hyderabad, who controlled the region where Kalaburagi is located, to accede to the country. "But one family in the Congress loses its sleep whenever Sardar Patel's name crops up," he said.

Seeking to appeal to patriotic sentiments of voters, the prime minister raked up the issue of cross-LoC surgical strikes, claiming the Congress questioned the genuineness of the assault by the Indian Army.

"They sought proof about the genuineness of the surgical strike. Bodies of Pakistani soldiers were carried on trucks, a newspaper said that...and they need proof?" he said.