Sachin Pilot Slams BJP Leader Amit Malviya Over 'Rajesh Pilot Bombed Mizoram' Claim, Says 'Wrong Dates and Facts'
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Tuesday hit out at BJP IT department head Amit Malviya for claiming that his father Rajesh Pilot dropped bombs as an air force pilot in Mizoram in March 1966, saying the facts and dates are wrong as he was commissioned into the force in October that year.
New Delhi, August 15: Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Tuesday hit out at BJP IT department head Amit Malviya for claiming that his father Rajesh Pilot dropped bombs as an air force pilot in Mizoram in March 1966, saying the facts and dates are wrong as he was commissioned into the force in October that year. In a post on X, Malviya had claimed that Rajesh Pilot and Suresh Kalmadi were flying the Indian Air Force planes that bombed Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, on March 5, 1966.
"Later both became MPs on Congress tickets and ministers in the government. It is clear that Indira Gandhi gave a place in politics as a reward, gave respect to those who carried out air raids on their own people in the Northeast," Malviya had said in the post in Hindi. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot Launches Annapurna Food Packet Scheme on 77th Independence Day, Says These Are Not ‘Revdi’.
Hitting out at the BJP leader, Pilot said, "@amitmalviya - 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 5th of March 1966."
"He was commissioned into the IAF only on 29th October 1966! (Certificate attached). Jai hind and a happy Independence Day," Pilot said on X and shared the certificate according to which Rajesh Pilot was commissioned in the Indian Air Force on October 29, 1966.
The Congress last week hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his criticism of then PM Indira Gandhi's decision to use the Indian Air Force in Mizoram in 1966, saying he "twisted decisions" taken by his predecessors out of their political and historical context to score "petty debating points". OBC Quota in Rajasthan: Congress Government Will Increase OBC Reservation From 21% to 27%, Says CM Ashok Gehlot.
Responding to the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, Modi had referred to incidents such as the use of the Air Force to "attack the people in Mizoram", a radio transmission of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 leaving the people of the northeast to fend for themselves during the Chinese invasion as cases in point of Congress' "neglect" of the region.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)