Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi seized on senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s remark that Pulwama terror attack which killed 40 CRPF troopers was an “accident” to say the comment sums up the party’s mentality and slammed opposition leaders as “poster boys of Pakistan”.

Singh set off a fresh controversy when he referred to the JeM attack as a “durghatna (accident)” , rather than a terror incident. Modi picked on the comment to recall in rallies at Dhar and Dhubri that Singh was an “advisor” to the “naamdar (privileged)” leaders of Congress.

PM said Singh previously referred to Osama bin Laden as a “messenger of peace” and claimed that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had wept when shown pictures of the accused Indian Mujahideen members who were shot in the Batla House encounter in Delhi.

On Sunday, Digvijaya Singh had asked for evidence of the success of air strikes on JeM camps in Balakot in Pakistan, sparking a wave of criticism . On Tuesday, perhaps in an attempt to clear himself, the Congress veteran shot off a series of tweets only to sink deeper into the quagmire.

While he expressed full faith in the armed forces, he controversially added, “But after Pulwama ‘durghatna’ and the air-strike by Air Force, some foreign media raised suspicion whereby the credibility of the Indian government is being questioned.”

Responding to the comments, Modi said, “A (Congress) leader of MP this morning called Pulwama terror attack an accident — an accident that just happened. They don’t just say this, this is their mentality. In order to save their friend, to take their side, they are calling an attack by terrorists an accident.”



In Video: PM Narendra Modi slams opposition, terms leaders as 'poster boys of Pakistan'