Pulwama to Poonch - Congress not learning from past mistakes, experts reckon

New Delhi : Having not learnt at all from its past mistakes, the opposition parties led by the Congress have yet again fueled BJP's campaign blitz in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections by making irresponsible statements on Saturday's terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district which claimed the life of an IAF soldier and injured four others.

"These are all stunts and not terrorist attacks. There is no truth in it. BJP is playing with the lives of people and bodies," former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said in Jalandhar on Sunday. 

As his remarks - labelled as "shameful" and "disgusting" by many - triggered a massive row, the Congress leader emphasised on Monday that he respects the "bravehearts" and was only talking about "those who attack and orchestrate it".

The damage, however, has already been done with the Congress now being blamed for handing another opportunity on platter to the BJP.

"Congress has such anti-national leaders. They mislead the country," said BJP President J. P. Nadda while addressing a public rally in Telengana's Peddapalli.

"The Congress, till date, continues to question the martyrdom of our soldiers in Pulwama, even after Minister Fawad Chaudhry owned up the terror attack in Pakistan's Parliament. One wonders what is Congress' compulsion to constantly sound like a terror apologist?" questioned Amit Malviya, in-charge of BJP's National Information and Technology Department.

Raising another storm in the political circles, another Congress leader - Maharashtra's Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Vijay Wadettiwar - has been accused of levelling allegations that former Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare was killed by a RSS-affiliated cop and not terrorist Ajmal Kasab during the 26/11 terror attacks.

Even as the BJP lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, ascertaining whether the Congress is supporting and propagating the "harmful narrative", MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday backed his colleague, putting his party in further line of fire.

Tharoor, a former External Affairs Minister in the Congress-led UPA government, was also accused by the BJP on Monday for writing an article in a Bangladeshi publication that reportedly refers to India's Jammu and Kashmir as "Indian administered-Kashmir".

"I do not agree with that usage and have never used such a term in any of my writings or statements anywhere, ever," Tharoor countered the claim in a post on X on Monday.

Severely criticising the "shocking" comments made by the Congress leaders on matters of national security, experts reckon that the party leaders are committing the same old mistakes which have proved to be their nemesis over the past 10 years.

"These are the same people who doubted our armed forces' valour during surgical strikes and demanded proof of the success of the (surgical) air strike. Congress consistently undermines the Indian military," Prime Minister Narendra Modi told party workers during the 2024 BJP National Convention at Bharat Mandapam, earlier this year.

While the PM has insisted that, with the passage of time, such people who "oppose and protest" are becoming irrelevant, analysts emphasise that their emergence and "loose comments" only end up putting the BJP juggernaut in a pole position ahead of every election contest.