Armed force isn't Modi's own property; NDA govt released Azhar: Rahul's counter to BJP on nationalism

New Delhi, May 4 Taking the BJP's nationalism story in the continuous Lok Sabha polls head-on, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the Indian Army isn't Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "own property" and it ought not be politicized as he also slammed the government on tackling terror, citing JeM chief Masood Azhar's release during the NDA rule.

Asserting that terrorism is a huge issue, Gandhi alleged that the BJP compromises on it, including that the Congress will manage it "all the more sternly" than Modi in light of the fact that it works with a procedure, rather than "events".

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, he also hit out at the prime minister over his remarks that the Congress conducted surgical strikes just "on paper" and the leaders of the opposition party thought those were akin to video games.

Gandhi said Modi's remarks were not an insult to the Congress, but to the Army.

Asked about the prime minister invoking Masood Azhar's designation as a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) at a poll rally not long after the choice was declared, the Congress president said the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief is a terrorist and the strictest action should be taken against him.

"Who had sent him there? He is being assigned, yet who sent him there in any case? How could he achieve Pakistan? Hosts the Congress get-together sent him to Pakistan? Which government had consulted with terrorism, bowed before terrorism, who sent him back?," he asked, implying Azhar's discharge in the Kandahar hijacking case amid the NDA rule in 1999.

"The Congress did not send him (Azhar) back. Actually the BJP compromises (with terrorism). The Congress has never done a wonder such as this. The Congress party has never sent a fear based oppressor to Pakistan and will never do as such," Gandhi, who was flanked by senior Congress leaders P Chidambaram, Ahmed Patel, Anand Sharma and Randeep Surjewala, said.

Azhar and two other terrorists - Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheik - were discharged by the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee-drove government in return for the travelers held prisoner on board Indian Airlines flight IC-814, which was hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan.

Then foreign minister Jaswant Singh had went with Azhar in a unique flying machine and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, at that point a top Intelligence Bureau (IB) official, was in Kandahar as part of India's negotiating team when the terrorists were handed over.

Denouncing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of assuming praise for the Army's activities and overlooking key issues, for example, joblessness and agrarian pain, Gandhi stated, "Modi thinks the Army, Navy and Air Force are his own property."

Alluding to the six careful strikes the Congress had recorded as completed under the UPA rule, he said those were not directed by his gathering, yet by the Army.

"When he (Modi) says the Indian Army's careful strikes were computer games, he doesn't affront the Congress, however the Indian Army.

"The Army had done this (surgical strikes). It is their job. We don't politicize the Army. It is the Indian Army, not a specific person's Army. The prime minister ought to have that a lot of regard and not insult the Army," the Congress chief said.

He said the Army was doing its job for 70 years and had won every battle.

"It is a terrific record. What does Modi have to do with it as it is the Army's job. Modi should tell the nation what is he accomplishing for the young, what is he going to accomplish for farmers, for women," he said.

Gandhi also said there was an obvious inclination after four periods of the Lok Sabha surveys that the BJP was losing the constituent fight.

The main issues in the ongoing polls are employment, farmers' problems, prime minister's corruption and attacks on institutions, he said.

"Our internal assessment is clearly telling us that the BJP is losing the election," he added.

Gandhi claimed that there were signs of frenzy in the BJP's poll campaign.

"I see a frightened head administrator, unfit to confront the attack of the restriction and totally persuaded in his mind that he is caught. It is a panicky battle," he said.

The Congress chief once again challenged Modi to debate him on issues such as employment and corruption.

"I can discuss him anywhere apart from Anil Ambani's home," he said to peals of laughter.

Gandhi also slammed the prime minister over the Rafale agreement and said if Modi agrees to a debate, he will ask him to explain why parallel negotiations were carried out in the deal.

"In the Rafale deal, the 'chowkidar' (watchman) has stolen Rs 30,000 crore," he affirmed.

Gandhi also blamed the prime minister for hurting the nation's economy big time via completing demonetisation and actualizing an "imperfect" Goods and Services Tax (GST).

"He demonetised the economy, we will remonetise it through (minimum income guarantee scheme) NYAY," he said.

On the issue of his apology to the Supreme Court for attributing the 'chowkidar chor hai' (the watchman is a thief) slogan to it, Gandhi said he apologised as there was a process on in the court and he had commented on that.

Be that as it may, he included that he remains by his trademark against the BJP and the leader for defilement in the Rafale bargain.

Gandhi also alleged that the Election Commission (EC) is "totally one-sided" towards the opposition.