Jaipur,(Samajweekly) Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday said that the late veteran Congress leader Rajesh Pilot was a brave pilot of the Indian Air Force and insulting him is an insult to Indian Air Force.
“Congress leader Rajesh Pilot was a brave pilot of the Indian Air Force. By insulting him, the BJP is insulting the sacrifice of the Indian Air Force. The whole country should condemn this,” the Chief Minister wrote on X.
On Tuesday, BJP IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya said that Rajesh Pilot was rewarded for ‘dropping bombs’ in Mizoram capital Aizawl in 1966.
“Rajesh Pilot and Suresh Kalmadi were flying the Indian Air Force planes which dropped bombs on Mizoram’s capital Aizawl on March 5, 1966. Later, both of them became Congress MPs and later ministers. It is clear that Indira Gandhi gave a place in politics to those who carried out air raids on their own people in the Northeast and gave them respect,” Malviya had posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Responding to Malviya, Sahin Pilot wrote on X: “You have the wrong dates, wrong facts. Yes, as an Indian Air Force pilot, my late father did drop bombs. But that was on erstwhile East Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, and not, as you claim, on Mizoram on the March 5, 1966.”
The former Rajasthan Deputy CM also attached his father’s certificate mentioning his joining dates, saying his father was commissioned into the Indian Air Force only on October 29, 1966.
On the last day of the Monsoon Session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing the Lok Sabha had raked up the Aizawl bombing issue, saying: “On March 5, 1966, Congress had its Air Force attack the helpless citizens in Mizoram. Congress should answer if it was the Air Force of any other country. Were the people of Mizoram not the citizens of my country? Was their security not the responsibility of the Government of India?”
Responding to PM Modi, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh had defended the late Prime Minister, saying, “His criticism of Indira Gandhi’s extraordinarily tough decision of March 1966 in Mizoram to deal with secessionist forces that drew support from Pakistan and China was particularly pathetic.
“She saved Mizoram, started negotiations with those fighting the Indian state and finally a Peace Accord was signed on June 30, 1986. The manner in which the Accord came about is a remarkable story that reinforces the idea of India in Mizoram today.”
