PM to Cong

“pained that how it took place, why did they not come to know”. “Should I have held a meeting, called an all-party conference before conducting surgical strikes? Should I have asked them whether I should take the right or left turn?” he said.

“You have to trust the Army, just tell them this: Aap hain, Hindustan hai, dushmano ka maidan hai... khel aapke haath hai, aur woh karke dikhate hain. Our Army destroyed the terrorist camps.”

He said The Indian Express published a report which stated that the morning after the surgical strikes, Pakistani trucks carted away bodies.

Criticising the Congress for questioning the strikes, he said: “Their first question was: how many Indian soldiers died? The Army of the country conducted surgical strikes and you questioned it? You have insulted the country’s Army... you have insulted the brave mothers who gave birth to such brave children,” he said.

Describing Uttarakhand as “the land of brave mothers, land of sacrifice,” he criticised the Congress for ignoring the OROP (one rank-one pension) issue.

Taking a swipe at Chief Minister Harish Rawat of the Congress, he said: “When he was a central minister, he always tried to pull down the Uttarakhand government. You were so powerful... the state that had given so many soldiers... you could have at least implemented One Rank One Pension,” Modi said. “He never even put up a proposal for OROP before the government. Before the 2014 (Lok Sabha) elections, we promised to implement it and we have done it.”

Repeating his announcement of allweather Char Dham roads, Modi said it is “the responsibility of the central government” to construct these roads.