 "Manohar Parrikar")
It seems that the surgical strikes across the LoC on terror launch-pads in PoK have re-energised defence minister Manohar Parrikar. The minister has been firing like a machine gun ever since.
Manohar Parrikar said on Wednesday at an event in Mumbai, that he dresses better than the previous defence ministers. When asked about his sartorial style and whether it is too simple for a minister with a major portfolio, he replied, "I am uncomfortable in western outfits like suits. Compared to the previous defence minister, my dress is much better".
The minister didn't stop there but used the opportunity to underline that previous operations against Pakistan were covert operations but not surgical strikes. Parrikar added, “We need surgical strikes but our next response need not be by way of a surgical strike. There should be unpredictability in response".
When asked what led to the Uri attacks, he said that there were shortcomings but could not be called an intelligence failure. He added that if TV channels stop beaming incidents of stone-pelting in Kashmir, such incidents (Uri attack) would drop by 75 per cent, quoted The Indian Express.
Speaking at the event in Dehradun, where the statue of freedom fighter Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali was being unveiled, the defence minister had courted controversy by comparing the Indian army to Hanuman and said Pakistan had no idea what happened. He said, "Indian troops were like Hanuman who did not quite know their prowess before the surgical strikes".
While the Prime Minister had cautioned against politicising surgical strikes, the defence minister did not seem to pay much heed to that advice when he said that anyone can take the credit for the surgical strike but major credit goes to the prime minister.
“I don’t mind sharing credits, including the surgical strikes, with every countryman because it is done by our Armed Forces and not by any political party. So all Indians, including those doubting Thomases, also can share the credit. As for myself, I will only share the credit at the most… the major share goes to the Prime Minister but the issue I will at least claim the credit (for) is decision making ability and planning. So I think that should settle the nerves of many people…,” he said at an event in Mumbai.
Interestingly, in June 2015 he said that he won't be speaking to the media for six months. “I will not speak to the media for six months,” he said, hitting back at the journalists who were seeking some comments on defence related issues.
On the decreasing size of the eyes of Lord Ganesha's idols, he had said in June last year that it is happening because they are made in China. “I found that nowadays the eyes (of Ganesha idols) are becoming smaller and smaller. One day I turned it back and found, Made in China,” he commented.
When the issue of growing intolerance in the country picked up momentum, Manohar Parrikar took a jibe at Aamir Khan in August is year, who had narrated a discussion with his wife about feeling unsafe in the country. Parrikar said, "One actor had said that his wife wants to live out of India. It was an arrogant statement. If I am poor and my house is small, but I have to love my house and always dream to make a bungalow out of it."
Lashing out at the JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar, he said, "such people who speak against the country need to be taught a lesson by the people of this country".
