Tariq Hameed Karra, former PDP leader

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 18

The Congress found itself on the defensive today after new entrant to the party and former PDP leader Tariq Hameed Karra called Army Chief Bipin Rawat’s remarks on the stone-throwing youth of Jammu and Kashmir “political”.“As far as the Army Chief’s statement is concerned, I feel it is a politically motivated statement. It is very unfortunate that a force like the Army, deputed to protect the nation’s sovereignty, is politicised,” said Karra, after formally joining the Congress in the presence of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who said he was happy to have someone of Karra’s stature on board in the state.Karra, elected MP from Srinagar in 2014, had resigned from the Lok Sabha and PDP in mid- September last year over the “PDP-BJP alliance’s mishandling of the Kashmir unrest”.The Congress today distanced itself from Karra’s remarks which party general secretary (Jammu and Kashmir) Ambika Soni sought to “correct”.“Don’t go into whether a comma was placed here or there. What Mr Karra meant was that the ruling party has politicised the statement of the Army Chief and the Congress condemns such politicisation. The Congress has always stood against terrorism. What he (Karra) said was the Army Chief’s statement is being given a political colour by Union minister Jitendra Singh. It’s the BJP which is politicising the Army,” Soni said when asked if the Congress ascribed to the views of Karra, a founder member of the PDP who fell out with the party after it allied with the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir.To a query on what the Congress thought of the Army Chief’s remarks that stone-throwing youth who help terrorists escape would be treated as anti-nationals, Soni said, “We have always stood for zero tolerance for terrorism. The Congress stands with the Army. They are the best suited to handle the situation.”Karra for his part slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “politicising the Army” and called him a “small man occupying a big chair”.“He (Narendra Modi) is not a prime ministerial material. He is a small man sitting in a big chair,” said Karra, who had defeated National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah in Srinagar in the 2014 parliamentary polls.Earlier today, Karra met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi before being formally inducted into the party. Present at the event were Congress JK chief Ghulam Mir and party legislature leader Rigzin Jora.Addressing reporters, Karra said the PDP was founded in 1999 on the principles of fighting fascist forces and his conscience did not allow him to work with the PDP when it allied with those very forces. He said he resigned after the alliance “maimed the people in J&K, mishandled the unrest and jailed and blinded people.”