Congress wants Mr. Modi to explain why he said results would have been different with Rafale jets.

The Congress said on Sunday that it was not seeking any evidence of the cross-border strikes by the Indian Air Force but Prime Minister Narendra Modi had himself ‘questioned’ them by his remarks that the country was feeling the absence of Rafale fighter jets as the results could have been different if India had these aircraft.

“The Prime Minister has himself questioned the air strikes. He said had the Rafale jets been there (with the IAF), the results would have been different. What is the meaning of this,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari asked during a press conference here.

Mr. Modi should himself explain what would have been different with the Rafale jets. He held the Prime Minister responsible for the delay in induction of the French-made fighter jets into the IAF by ‘cancelling’ the earlier negotiations.

The Prime Minister had on Saturday hit out at the Opposition for doubting the armed forces on the anti-terror air strikes in Pakistan and said the country was feeling the absence of the Rafale fighter jets.

‘Nation suffering’

“India is feeling the absence of Rafale. The entire country is saying in one voice today, if we had Rafale probably the results would have been different. The country has suffered a lot due to selfish interests earlier and now politics over Rafale,” he had said at the India Today conclave.

Other Opposition leaders also hit out at the Modi government for allegedly trying to politically exploit the Pulwama tragedy and Air Force strikes.

“He [Mr. Modi] started his tenure with the comment that he is not Pradhan Mantri but Pradhan Sewak. Today he is reduced to Pradhan Pracharak. He has refused to hold a dialogue with the Opposition. He does not take Parliament into confidence. Instead he is busy addressing booth-level activists,” CPI leader D. Raja said.