New Delhi: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi likened the Indian army's surgical strikes to the functioning of Israel's defense forces while addressing a rally in Himachal Pradesh, Janata Dal (United) leader Pawan Verma on Wednesday alleged that the former has perfected the art of saying one thing to one audience and another thing to another audience.
Accusing the Prime Minister of indulging in the policy of 'good cop bad cop', Verma quoted a saying and told ANI that "teacher heal thyself".
"At one point he advised his Ministers not to do chest thumping, at another he himself is leading the biggest display of chest thumping on his supposedly 56 inch chest. What is the message to his own Ministers?" he asked.
"He is comparing the surgical strike to what Israel did taking the credit for it and chest thumping .. All party supported him, but he after giving advice to his Ministers decides to do something else when the audience is different. It is a policy of good cop bad cop," he said.
In his first direct reference to the September 29 surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC), Prime Minister Modi said that while Israel has been known for "such operations", the Indian Army has proved it is no less capable.
"Today the entire nation is talking of the valour of our Army. Earlier, we used to hear of Israel having done something like this. But the country has seen that the Indian Army is no less than anyone else," the Prime Minister said.
Interestingly, Modi's comparision of surgical strike by Indian Army with Israeli military has also been slammed by some political observers. They are of the view that Modi's statement was in bad test as Israel is considered as "biggest sponsor of terrorism" and accused of "war crimes" against innocent Palestinians and illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
"Hailing Israel and comparing it with Indian army is an insult to the nation and its army which have always taken proud in fighting for the cause of justice", Dr. Javed Jamil wrote in a recent article.
"Even despite the fact that in recent years India has been one of the biggest buyers of Israel’s arms, India has always supported Palestine in its struggle against Israeli occupation of its lands. Whenever India is confronted with Pakistan, it always maintains that Kashmir is an integral part of India and Pakistan has wrongly occupied a part of Kashmir.
"How can then Indian Army’s valour be compared with that of Israel which is recognised all over the world with the exception of a few Western powers as a tyrant that has committed huge atrocities on Palestinian people? " he asked.
"Prime Minster needs to clarify his position regarding Israel and Palestine. If he does not come with a satisfactory clarification it will be taken as a paradigm shift in the policy of the country towards Israel and Palestine.
"Arab World will be keenly watching the developments. Understandably the statement will be a huge blow to the sentiments of crores of Indian people who have been emotionally involved with the Palestinian struggle", he wrote.
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