Punjab ex-CM Channi terms attack on IAF convoy ‘stunt’ for polls, invites flak

Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi has triggered a controversy by terming the Poonch terror attack, in which an Indian Air Force soldier was killed and four were injured, a “stunt” meant to make the BJP win the Lok Sabha elections.

The remark by the former Punjab chief minister and Congress candidate of Jalandhar parliamentary constituency prompted Union minister Anurag Thakur to ask the Congress leadership to seek an apology from Channi for insulting soldiers.

BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa called Channi’s statement appalling and disrespectful towards soldiers.

‘Stuntbaazi’, says Channi

Replying to a question on the attack on the IAF’s convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch, Channi said in Jalandhar, “Yeh stuntbaazi ho rahi hai, hamle nahi ho rahe (These are all stunts, not attacks). Whenever elections are near, such stunts are performed to make the BJP win. There is no truth in it.”

“The BJP knows how to play with people’s lives and bodies,” he further alleged.

One soldier was killed and four were injured as terrorists ambushed an IAF convoy in Poonch district on Saturday, three weeks ahead of polling in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency.

The officials suspect the involvement of the same group of terrorists who ambushed troops in adjoining Bufliaz on December 21 last year, leaving four soldiers dead and three injured.

BJP seeks apology

Union minister Thakur strongly condemned Channi’s remarks and asked the Congress whether it would “insult soldiers” to win elections.

He asked Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and party president Mallikarjun Kharge to seek an apology from Channi.

“They insult our Army and question the capability of our Army,” said Thakur, who was in Jalandhar on Sunday.

“Will the Congress insult our brave soldiers to win elections,” he asked.

Congress slammed

Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar also condemned Channi’s remarks as “shameful”.

“Ghastly statement by CWC member Channi belittling the valour of our brave soldiers is no less a crime and an insult to the nation. Channi’s shameful statement on the attack on our Air Force personnel in Poonch calling their valour as a stunt shows the bankruptcy and frustration of Channi,” he said.

“The nation will not forgive him. He should hang his head in shame. The Congress and its allies should come clean on this issue. They should publicly disassociate from his statement and ask him to apologise to the nation immediately,” Jakhar said in a post on X.

BJP leader Sirsa said, “I condemn Charanjit Singh Channi’s statement of calling the martyrdom of an IAF personnel in Kashmir ‘stuntbaazi’. Congress is saying that he was martyred because of elections. This mentality is not just appalling but disrespectful to those who serve our nation.”

“Pakistan and Rahul Gandhi continue to support each other while Congress is belittling the sacrifice of our Jawans,” Sirsa said in a post on X.

(With agency inputs)