New Delhi, December 8

Congress president Rahul Gandhi today lauded Lt Gen DS Hooda (retd) for his remarks in Chandigarh yesterday that the 2016 surgical strikes should have been carried out secretly, and attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for drawing “political capital” from the issue.

“Spoken like a true soldier General. India is so proud of you. Mr 36 (sic) has absolutely no shame in using our military as a personal asset. He used the surgical strikes for political capital and the Rafale deal to increase Anil Ambani’s real capital by 30,000 Cr #SurgicalStrike,” Gandhi said on Twitter.

Later in the day, former minister P Chidambaram also spoke with “pride” of people of eminence shedding their fear and speaking their mind. “Glad to see important persons shedding their fear and breaking their silence. First it was Dr Arvind Subramanian who called demonetisation a massive monetary shock. Next it was outgoing CEC who said note ban had no impact on the use of black money in elections. Now, it is General Hooda who has decried the hype over the so-called ‘surgical strike’ and its politicisation by government,” he tweeted. — TNS