Congress also asked the Prime Minister to publicly vow never to make political capital out of army's sacrifice and asked Parrikar to immediately apologise for his statement that "insulted" the armed forces.
As the political slugfest over the surgical strikes continued unabated, Congress accused BJP of making political capital out of the issue and indulging in "belligerent chest thumping", bringing disgrace to the culture of governance in the country.
"Onus lies at the doorstep of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to come forward, tame his belligerent Defence Minister and BJP President, apologise to the armed forces on their behalf and publicly vow to never make political capital out of army's sacrifice," Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.
He said the Congress "vehemently dismisses and strongly condemns" Parrikar's remarks that "insult the service, sacrifice and valour" of the Indian armed forces.
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"Blinded by political vote garnering out of the blood and sacrifice of our soldiers, Parrikar is unabashedly lying and misleading the people of India. Defence Minister is free to give credit to anyone but should abstain from undermining the huge sacrifices made by our armed forces in last 68 years.
Surjewala deprecated the RSS and BJP President Amit Shah
for "publicly declaring" their intention of making political capital out of the surgical strikes.
"First, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar claimed that the Modi government had 'made the army realise its prowess and strength' for the first time. Going a step further, Amit Shah lied to the nation and disgracefully undermined the sacrifice of our armed forces by proclaiming that 'army has crossed the LOC for the first time in 68 years' under Modi government," he said.
"Does he mean that those who fought the great wars of 1947, 1962, 1965, 1971 and 1999 had no courage and deserved no credit?," he asked, adding that those who participated in 'Operation Ginger' in 2011 are still alive.
"Parrikar has dangerously attempted to belittle their contribution and is dividing the forces on political lines," he said.
"This distasteful commentary, unending public felicitations of the Defence Minister in Goa, Agra and Lucknow and converting 'national security' into an 'event management' exercise to polish the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unfortunate and reflects desperation on the part of BJP," Surjewala said.