‘Wake up to reality, strengthen armed forces’: Congress after jet loss confirmation

The Congress on Saturday launched a sharp attack at the government after the country’s military confirmed, for the first time, that it lost an unspecified number of fighter jets during recent clashes with Pakistan in May, stating that the government must ‘wake up to the reality’ to strengthen the armed forces.

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The BJP has been continuously punching Congress’ efforts to pose questions to the government with “unpatriotic” and even Pakistan supporters jibe. The Congress today while hailing the armed forces for decisive victory against Pakistan said the intent of raising questions about losses is to learn lessons for the future combats which is a normal procedure followed by militaries worldwide.

“It is surprising that they are calling us unpatriotic. It is the Gandhi family which has sacrificed two PMs for the nation,” said Telangana minister and senior Congress leader Uttam Kumar Reddy.

Referring to Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Anil Chauhan interview with Bloomberg TV during Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, in which he confirmed for the first time that the country lost an unspecified number of fighter jets in clashes with Pakistan in May, Reddy, who himself has been a fighter pilot, said, “The CDS has clarified about it. When Rahul Gandhi raised similar questions earlier, a lot of negative campaign was launched against us. Now, CDS has comefirmed that fighter jets were down during the fight.”

In his interview, CDS Chauhan declined to specify how many jets India lost, while also calling Pakistan’s claims that it shot down six Indian warplanes “absolutely incorrect”.

Also, referring to recent statement of Air Chief Marshal AP Singh in which he lamented the delays in implementation of defence projects, Reddy said the government must wake up to the reality that it needs to strengthen armed forces in the country. 

“Air Chief Marshal AP Singh’s statement should alert the government. Congress applauds IAF’s role on recent 4-day operation. Congress is proud of the way IAF scored a spectacular victory by striking nine terror bases in Pakistan while defending skies of the country,” he said. 

He also said all the armed forces including IAF are short of men since the recruitment post Covid has not picked up. He added IAF annually requires 30 to 40 fighter jets annually which “HAL has failed to deliver”.