NEW DELHI: The Pulwama attack that killed scores of security personnel in held Kashmir in February 2019, which India blamed on Pakistan, was used cynically by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to win the second consecutive election, two key critics of the BJP government said on Wednesday.

In an unusual conversation in which Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as the host asked questions of former BJP governor of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir Satya Pal Malik, both men discussed the Pulwama attack, the destruction of Manipur and charges of crony capitalism surrounding the Adani business group close to Mr Modi.

When the bodies of the soldiers arrived at the Delhi airport, Mr Gandhi said, he went there to pay homage to the fallen men. “The security locked me up, literally, in a room, but I broke through.” What he saw there was a cynical event in which Mr Modi was being photographed with scarcely any thought for the sombre moment.

The former governor was in office when the Pulwama attack happened. He has also been vocal in criticising the Modi administration, especially for short-changing the farmers.

“Will this dialogue increase the ED-CBI race?” Rahul Gandhi captioned his tweet. He was referring to the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation, both government agencies, which have been used to jail and harass opposition politicians, intellectuals and journalists.“ I told two channels that it was our fault but I was asked to not say this anywhere,“ Mr Malik recalled about the Pulwama attack. “I thought my statements might impact the investigation, but there was no investigation. It was used for the purpose of election.

“On the third day, PM Modi gave his speech where he used it politically.” The soldiers were sitting ducks, because they were denied aircraft to move them as was the protocol.“

Why did the Pulwama incident happen? They had asked for five aircraft. Had anyone asked me, I would have given those right away. I provided aircraft to students stuck in the snow. It is easy to get aircraft on rent in Delhi. But their application was lying for four months in the home ministry. And then it was rejected. The CRPF personnel then took the road which was known to be unsafe,“ the former governor said.

Mr Malik talked about the 20,000 crore investment that the Adani Group secured and was brought up by Rahul Gandhi in parliament. He asked where did the group secure such a huge amount.

Satya Pal Malik told Rahul Gandhi that the government failed to keep its promise on minimum support price (MSP) to the farmers because the Adani Group built huge go-downs, purchased crops at a lower price.“

Next year, their prices will increase and he will sell those. If MSP is implemented, a farmer won’t sell his products to them at a cheaper rate.“

Mr Malik said the Manipur situation is another failure of the Modi government, wherein the CM (Biren Singh) has also failed. He pointed out how the chief minister has also not been removed yet.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2023