Surgical strike video released to divert attention: Congress
New Delhi, June 28: Describing Narendra Modi government as "coward and weak" in handling terrorism, the Congress on Thursday said the videos of surgical strike were released to divert attention from the falling value of rupee.
The party said Prime Minister Modi should apologise to the nation for "economic mismanagement" triggered by his decision to enforce demonetisation.
"Was this video released selectively just to divert attention from the value of rupee falling to Rs. 69 per dollar? He (Modi) should apologise to the country for this as it has happened due to economic mismanagement. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad should also give him company," said Congress spokesperson Pramod Tiwari.
"Economy of the country has been destroyed," he added.
Tiwari said that surgical strike of September 28-29, 2016 was shamelessly politicised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in March 2017.
"Ravi Shankar Prasadji calls Hafiz Saeed, Hafizji, out of fear. He is so scared even during a press conference. They (BJP) released three terrorists in Kandahar -- Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Jargar, Ahmed Sayeed Sheikh -- and took them in a chartered plane," said Tiwari.
"Congress government arrested them and they released these terrorists. Had they not released Masood Azhar, then peace would have continued in Jammu and Kashmir. There would not have been bloodshed in Kashmir."
The entire country was facing the consequences of the historic blunder they committed, he said and added: "the BJP government is the weakest and most coward when it comes to handling terrorism."
He said the Congress party lost former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi to terrorism.
"We have sacrificed lives, we have struggled. But they gave a safe passage to terrorists. BJP, whose hands are full of blood, now wants to teach a lesson to the Congress."
Tiwari said: "They spoke about Bofors, but they should not forget Rafale deal. They should not point fingers at Congress as they themselves were involved in the Kargil coffin scam."
He also said that a former Union Minister and a senior BJP leader Arun Shourie had termed the surgical strike a "farcical strike".
"Earlier, no Prime Minister had released a videos of surgical strikes, which were conducted at least nine times. For Modi, his party is bigger than the country.
"Without PMO and Defence Ministry's consent these videos would not have been released. It was done just to hide its own failures," he added.
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MediaOne TV Facebook page restored after block linked to ‘government request’
Kochi: The official Facebook page of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV has been restored after being blocked without prior notice, the broadcaster said on Wednesday.
The channel was quoted by Maktoob as saying that the restriction was lifted automatically, with Meta Platforms informing it that the action had been taken following a “government request” which has now expired or been reversed.
The development came shortly after the channel approached the Kerala High Court challenging the blocking of its page, terming it arbitrary and in violation of legal provisions and judicial precedents. The High Court had issued notice to Meta via email hours before the restriction was withdrawn.
In its petition, the channel said access to its Facebook page had been restricted for users in India without citing any specific content or alleged violation. It contended that while individual posts may be taken down under applicable a rule, blocking an entire page goes beyond the scope of such measures.
The incident followed an earlier action taken against the channel in 2022, when the Ministry of Information and transmitting prohibited it from transmitting. It cited national security concerns regarding the Ministry of Home Affairs' refusal of security clearance.
The Supreme Court of India in April 2023 set aside the ban, observing that national security claims cannot be made without substantive basis and that criticism of government policies does not render a media outlet anti-national.
