india

Updated: May 12, 2019 23:41 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Opposition on questions of national security and fighting terrorism on Sunday, saying India’s defence forces couldn’t wait for permission from the Election Commission to take action against terrorists.

Addressing a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar, Modi referred to the killing of two Lashkar-e-Taiba militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian on Sunday and criticised opposition parties, who have repeatedly complained to the Election Commission about the Bharatiya Janata Party election campaign using the Balakot air strikes on terror targets in Pakistan.

“In the morning when reports and news come, I learn that terrorists have been gunned down in Kashmir. Now some people are perturbed over the fact that when polling is going on today, then why did Modi kill the terrorists? They (terrorists) are standing with guns toting, will my jawan go to seek the permission of the Election Commission whether I should fire at the terrorist or not.” “Since, we have come to power every second-third day, terrorists are killed. This safai abhiyaan (clean-up project) is my work,” he said.

Later in the day at another rally in Deoria, he said he was surprised that opposition parties were saying that elections were on and the security forces were opening fire on militants.

The army and the Balakot air strikes featuring in the BJP’s campaign speeches and material has stirred a major controversy with opposition parties saying it violated the model code of conduct. However, the Election Commission has cleared the prime minister of several such complaints.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said Modi would not be able to escape the public radar even if he spoke about the army and air strikes, and that the people of the country would seek a complete account of the government’s actions in the past five years.