Congress, CPI(M) defending terrorists, claims BJP state chief Chandrasekhar

Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday accused the Congress and CPI(M) of defending the terrorists who carried out the attack at Kashmir's Pahalgam two days ago, by their alleged criticism of the security arrangements there.

Chandrasekhar questioned why Robert Vadra, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan and CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby were "defending the terrorists from Pakistan".

The BJP leader also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have assured that India will respond to the attack.

"Let there be no doubt about that," he said.

Chandrasekhar further said that those making criticisms of security lapses are the ones defending the attack that led to the deaths of 26 innocent persons who had gone to Kashmir's Pahalgam with their families for sightseeing.

"Why are Robert Vadra, V D Satheesan and M A Baby defending the terrorists? I do not understand the motivation behind it. Has their appeasement politics reached this stage? My request to them is that they should not defend the terrorists. They should realise what they said was wrong and stand together against terrorism," he said.

Chandrasekhar said that security in Jammu and Kashmir was being handled by the Army, the police there, Border Security Force (BSF) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) who were "competent" in that matter.

"So if Vadra, Satheesan and Baby are security experts, let them go there and work or make statements," he added.

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law and businessman Robert Vadra had on Wednesday triggered a row by suggesting that non-Muslims were attacked in Pahalgam as terrorists feel that Muslims are being "mistreated" in the country, prompting the BJP to accuse him of using the language of terrorists and demand his apology.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) had also condemned the Pahalgam attack and demanded that the government probe all aspects of it, including lack of security.

Satheesan, on Tuesday, had questioned whether there was any failure on the part of the security agencies, including the intelligence agencies, in ensuring safety at Pahalgam, an important tourist area.