India may be divided by political differences with political parties never missing an opportunity to score points over each other. But the news on Thursday that the Indian army had crossed the LoC to conduct surgical strikes at terrorist camps brought every political party on one platform.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired an all-party meeting to build a consensus, he didn’t have to work hard as leaders from opposition parties began to speak in one voice.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi said a “strong message” had been sent with the surgical strikes by Army against terror bases across the Line of Control (LoC) and insisted that Pakistan bears a “great responsibility” in the continuing cross-border attacks in India.
Offering the party’s support to the government in the battle against terror, Gandhi said in a statement that “this is a strong message that conveys our country’s resolve to prevent further infiltration and attacks on our security forces and our people”.
With the Uri terror attack apparently weighing heavily on her mind, Gandhi asked Pakistan to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism that “it has supported and ensure that its territory and the territory under its control is not used for terrorist purposes against India”.
“The party hopes that Pakistan will recognise that it bears a great responsibility in the continuing cross-border terrorist attacks against India,” she said.
Aam Aadmy Party’s national convenor and Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal tweeted chanting Bharat Maata Ki Jai adding that the country was behind the armed forces.
भारत माता की जय। पूरा देश भारतीय सेना के साथ है
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) September 29, 2016
His tourism minister, Kapil minister too echoed similar sentiments when he said, “There is no opposition today. India is One. Let Indian army create history and entire Nation stands behind them firmly.”
The CPI-M general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, said, “Govt briefed us on operations conducted by the Army. The safety and security of our people from cross-border terrorism must be ensured. We hope that incidents like those at Pathankot&Uri won’t recur. We expect that there is no escalation of hostilities.”