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Updated: Dec 01, 2018 14:16 IST

BJP president Amit Shah has responded to Rahul Gandhi’s statement that the BJP government used the surgical strikes to win the Uttar Pradesh Elections. Addressing a rally in Phalodi in Rajasthan, Amit Shah said that by making such a statement, the Congress president has insulted the sacrifice of the jawans.

“While you are happy that the Modi government conducted the surgical strike, Rahul Baba is saying that the BJP did this to win elections in UP. He should be ashamed of making such statements. You are insulting the martyrs of the country. You did not have the guts to do something like this,” Shah said.

“Today, when a soldier stands on duty on the border, be in Rajasthan or anywhere along the country’s boundary, he is confident that the Indian goverment is standing behind him like a rock,” Shah said continuing his speech.

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He also said that before the Indian army conducted its surgical strike into Pakistan, there were only two countries which were known to avenge the deaths of their soldiers: America and Israel.

“Immediately after the surgical strike, India’s name was added to that list of two countries. This is what the BJP has done for its country.

Earlier, speaking in Udaipur, Rahul Gandhi had said that the BJP had resorted to making public the details of the surgical strike so that it wouldn’t lose the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

“But Narendra Modi actually reached into Army’s domain and shaped their surgical strike, he turned their surgical strike into a political asset when it actually was a military decision,” Rahul had said while addressing a public interaction with members of business community and professionals in Udaipur.

“What the Army would have liked was we’ll do it, it’s beneficial if nobody knows we did it. But Modi didn’t want that. He was fighting an election in UP and he was losing it. So he did it to turn a military asset into a political asset,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“PM is convinced he knows better than Army what needs to be done in Army’s area, better than foreign minister what needs to be done in the foreign ministry, better than agriculture minister what needs to be done in agriculture because he has a sense that all knowledge comes from his brain,” Rahul Gandhi said.