Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday slammed the Congress for including the promise to amend the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in its election manifesto. Addressing a press conference, the Defence Minister called the promise anti-national and accused the opposition party of supporting the separatists.
“Is this right that the Congress party’s manifesto promises amendments in the AFSPA? Their promise is anti-national and separatist-friendly, which is an effort to weaken the armed forces. They are trying to dilute the immunity of our security forces,”she added.
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She further added that such promises by the opposition will destroy the morale of the armed forces. She accused Congress of hypocrisy saying that on one hand the party talks about giving the status of martyr to the soldiers and on the other hand adds the promise of amending AFSPA in their manifesto. She also asked why Congress did not include the promise of giving martyr status to soldiers in its manifesto after the ghastly Pulwama terror attack.
Sitharaman launched an attack on opposition saying that in order to amend AFSPA the party should ensure that law and order situation is tackled in the state. “If Congress wants to remove the AFSPA, there is a system for it. The BJP has removed the AFSPA from Assam. It was the BJP who has shown it can be removed. But Congress manifesto on removing AFSPA will have a negative effect. It will be interpreted as being in favour of anti-nationals and separatists,” she added.
She also attacked Congress’s promise of scrapping the sedition law, saying the Congress manifesto is going in a direction that is dangerous for the country.