Dubbing Narendra Modi "prime time minister", Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the prime minister was smiling at a photo shoot in the waters on February 14 when an "ocean of pain filled the country's heart and homes of the martyrs" after the Pulwama attack.
In a tweet with the hashtag 'PhotoShootSarkar', Gandhi said the prime minister continued shooting for a film even three hours after the news of the Pulwama terror strike came in.
At a press conference, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari cited DD News footage to claim that the Prime Minister addressed a rally in Uttarakhand at 5:10 pm over phone.
"Even after three hours of the news of the 40 jawans being martyred in the Pulwama terror strike, the prime time minister continued with a film shooting," the Congress president tweeted in Hindi.
"There was an ocean of pain in the country's heart and in the homes of martyrs, and he was smiling and doing a photo shoot in the waters," Gandhi wrote on Twitter and attached four photographs of the prime minister purportedly during the shoot.
Hitting back at the Congress for its attack on the Modi government over the Pulwama terror strike, the BJP said some political parties were "not standing with the country" for petty politics when nations across the world have backed India.
On Thursday, the Congress cited media reports to allege that Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park on February 14 for "self propagation", and stayed put till the evening despite the attack on a CRPF convoy in south Kashmir's Pulwama district in the afternoon that day.
Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, addressing a press conference, also claimed the prime minister continued to "have tea and samosas at seven o'clock at a PWD guest house when every single Indian household didn't eat food (that day)".
Tewari said on Friday the prime minister not only addressed a rally in Uttarakhand but continued with a photo shoot at the Corbett National Park in the hours following the terror strike in which 40 CRPF jawans died after a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the paramilitary force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.
"We want to ask the prime minister what was he doing between 3:10-5:10 pm, when you addressed a public rally in Uttarakhand through mobile phone," Tewari posed.
The prime minister addressed the rally and did not speak on Pulwama, he said.
"Either the prime minister was completely oblivious, or he was insensitive. Either the prime minister did not know for two hours that a terror attack has taken place or the prime minister knew and was completely nonchalant about it," the Congress leader said.
In both situations, the prime minister needs to answer for those two hours, he said, adding that both the scenarios do not auger well for the country.
"These leaks, peeks, and squeaks -- source-based reports which pliable journalists lap up these days -- that is not the way the nation states should function," Tewari said, adding, "Mr Prime Minister we will not let you and your government get away by playing with the security of India."
He accused the government of trying to "package high-octane jingoism to subterfuge national security failures" and said if the prime minister was "incommunicado" hours after the attack, then it was a matter of grave concern, especially for a nuclear nation, as it could have serious consequences.
"We are a nuclear state and if there is a breakdown in communication between the prime minister and his office, it has very portentous implications. That is why, this nation must know from the prime minister... what were you doing between 3:10 pm and 5:10 pm that day?" Tewari said.
"If you knew that an attack had taken place in Pulwama, why you did not condemn at 5:10 pm, when you addressed a rally over phone.
"And if you did not know for two hours that the heinous Pulwama attack has taken place, then what does it speak about your government? Can there be greater incompetence?" he asked.
Tewari also accused the NDA government of being an "exquisite mixture of jingoistic arrogance and strategic ignorance".
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel also attacked the government over the issue, saying it was a matter of grave concern that Prime Minister Modi was "incommunicado at the time of an attack on the nation's sovereignty".
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