New Delhi: The Congress asked the government on Saturday to tell the country the truth on what losses were suffered during the four-day conflict with Pakistan after Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan acknowledged aircraft losses in the hostilities.
Gen Chouhan, however, dismissed as “absolutely incorrect” Islamabad’s claim of downing six Indian jets.
Latching on to the comment by the chief of defence staff (CDS), Congress leader Uttam Kumar Reddy said the country wanted to know whether any aircraft were downed during the conflict, especially in the wake of the CDS’ “admission”.
Congress claimed that the whole country now realises that the Modi government was “not upfront” with whatever happened, and there is a need for a reassessment of military technology as India lost aircraft in the four-day operation, even as most of the firing in the day operation was done from within international borders.
General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh referred to the Kargil Review Committee under the chairmanship of “India’s strategic affairs guru” K Subrahmanyam, the late father of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, that submitted a detailed report, ‘From Surprise to Reckoning’.
Ramesh said the committee was set up “just three days after the Kargil War had ended” and its report was laid in Parliament on 23 February 2000 after the necessary redactions. “Will the Modi Government now take a similar step in light of what the Chief of Defence Staff has just revealed in Singapore?” he asked.
Gen Chouhan told an interviewer when asked about losing aircraft, “I think what is important is not the jet being downed but why they were being downed. The good part is that we were able to understand the tactical mistakes which we made, which were remedied, rectified, and then implemented it again after two days and flew all our jets again targeting at long range.”
Rejecting Pakistan’s claims that they downed six Indian fighter aircraft, he said, “(Pakistan claims are) incorrect. That is not important. What I said is important, why they went down, and what we did after that. That is more important.”
Addressing a press conference, senior Congress leader and Telangana Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Modi government should be “more transparent” on what really happened, as “accountability is a normal thing in a democracy and it has nothing to do with patriotism”. He said the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, was attacked for asking questions.
“The fact that the fighter aircraft were down is something that the government needs to stop denying. The CDS himself mentioned that. Earlier, Air Marshal Bharti had mentioned it indirectly in his briefing along with the DGMO,” Reddy, himself a former fighter pilot, said.
Rejecting allegations of playing politics on national security matters, he said there is “nothing that impacts” the morale of the armed forces if the losses are revealed.
