Arun Jaitley calls Congress 'over ground ally of Left Wing Extremism'

"The low point in Congress party’s attitude towards separatism and terror was reached when a combination of separatists, Jehadis and Maoists ganged up to raise slogans on ‘Desh ke tukde tukde’ at New Delhi’s JNU, the Congress President Rahul Gandhi stood shoulder to shoulder with them," Jaitley wrote in a blog.

Finance Minister also exuded confidence that the country is safe and secure under the Narendra Modi government only.

“Can an over-ground ally of the Left wing extremism be put in power at New Delhi? Can those who have weakened the battle against terror for the cause of vote bank politics be trusted? Should not those who have played into the Pakistani hands be taught a severe lesson in these elections?," he asked in reference to some Congress leaders' outburst after Pulwama terror attack and Indian Air Force strike on Balakot.

“Unhesitatingly the answer to the above question is a big ‘yes’. This country is safe and secure under the NDA Government led by Prime Minister Modi,” Jaitley said.

He also accused the Congress of striking a deal with Left wing Extremism giving example of JNU and Chhattisgarh, saying at the first instance, the opposition party did not oppose the idea of a pro-active approach in destroying terror at its point of origin.

"But it is disturbed with regard to the political fallout of this pro-active approach on the image of Mr Modi," he said.

"The Congress is one with the Government on condemning Pulwama but is disturbed about Balakot. Thus it repeatedly rubbishes the surgical strikes. It contends that they have either taken place in the past also or alternatively they never took place under Prime Minister Modi".

Jaitley said - "On the air strikes, their conduct is even more dubious. While giving lip sympathy to the Indian Air Force for the first two days, they started a multi-pronged attack. They questioned the success of the strikes. They started demanding proof that terrorists had died at Balakot".

They even contended that the strike had taken place not against terror but to ensure BJP’s victory in the forthcoming elections, he said adding - "This was a self-goal by the Congress in domestic politics".

Jaitley, who had also held Defence portfolio for sometime, said "In fact, the opposition was also playing into the hands of Pakistan where statements of Congress leaders, including its president Rahul Gandhi, were played out on television channels. The neighbouring country was using these statements to bolster their own falsehood".

Giving other example, Jaitley said Congress had dubbed the Batla House encounter as a fake one and the party even appealed for amnesty for the guilty of the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast, 26/11 attack and the Parliament attack cases.

The Minister said Pakistan has been encouraging cross border insurgency and supporting domestic terrorists and the Congress had no structured plan during its ten-year-long regime. Modi inherited this as a legacy issue.

The Prime Minister experimented the conventional method of trying to soften the relationship with Pakistan in a hope that wiser sense would prevail, but Islamabad responded with Pathankot, Uri and Pulwama.

Jaitley said, the country’s reply in form of post-Uri and Balakot surgical strikes, Mr Modi had evolved India’s internal security doctrine.

He further wrote - "....the Surgical and Air strikes evolved a policy that we must attack terror at the point of its origin. In both cases we succeeded".

"Pakistan realised that there was a severe cost involved if the State continued to patronise terror. The world welcomed our pro-active approach. Pakistan was diplomatically isolated. Its traditional friends were not willing to stand up and defend it," he added.