Idukki: The air strike in Pakistan by the Indian Air Force was part of a plan by the BJP to trigger a war and undermine the general elections due in a couple of months, CPM Kerala state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said on Tuesday.
The government wants to trigger a war with Pakistan before the elections are announced, Kodiyeri said at a party rally at Nedunkandam in Idukki district.
"Instead of finding a solution to the insurgency in Kashmir, the BJP government is trying to make things worse by making the people of Kashmir enemies of the state," he said.
The people of Kashmir should be made to stand with the nation, he said.
"The BJP government, which senses defeat in the elections, is attempting to polarise communities through war mongering," he added.
Kodiyeri's comments come at a time when several leaders of opposition political parties have hailed the Indian Air Force for the operation. Those who lauded the force include Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and BSP supremo Mayawati.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury also confirmed that there was an 'effective' strike early on Ttuesday, the details of which are yet to emerge.
Kodiyeri's views resonates with those of senior TMC leader Sudip Bandhopadhyay who had not supported the move to take ‘stern action’ against Pakistan, at an all-party meeting called by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on February 16, two days after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 jawans were killed after a CRPF convoy was attacked.
The government has convened an all-party meeting Tuesday evening where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will brief the leaders of opposition parties on the pre-dawn air strike operation by Air Force against Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) terror camps in Pakistan, sources said.
In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a "very large number" of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said.
Giving details of the operation at a news conference in New Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said credible intelligence was received that the JeM was planning to carry out more suicide attacks in India.
"Credible intelligence was received that JeM was attempting another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country, and the fidayeen jihadis were being trained for this purpose. In the face of imminent danger, a preemptive strike became absolutely necessary.
"In an intelligence-led operation in the early hours of today (Tuesday), India struck the biggest training camp of JeM in Balakot," Gokhale said.
"In this operation, a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for fidayeen action were eliminated."
