Chhattisgarh’s anti-Naxal operation was “poorly designed and incompetently executed" alleged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, a day after a senior official refuted "intelligence failure" claims. At least 22 security personnel were martyred in an ambush in the state’s Bastar region.
Taking to Twitter, Mr Gandhi wrote, "If there was no intelligence failure then a 1:1 death ratio means it was a poorly designed and incompetently executed operation," the Congress leader tweeted tagging a news clipping of CRPF DG Kuldiep Singh's "no operational and intelligence failure.”
"Our Jawans are not cannon fodder to be martyred at will," he added.
After monitoring the situation following the attack in Chhattisgarh, Mr Singh stated that there was no intelligence or operational lapse in the operation. "There is no point in saying that there was some kind of intelligence or operational failure. Had it been some intelligence failure, forces would have not gone for the operation. And if there was some operational failure, so many Naxals would have not been killed," Mr Singh informed. While earlier, he acknowledged that his personnel were "surprised and ambushed".
An encounter that broke out between security forces and Naxals along the Sukma-Bijapur border in Chhattisgarh on Saturday has taken the lives of at least 22 security personnel. The encounter took place after teams of jawans were ambushed by Maoists near Jonnaguda village around noon. Out of the 22 fatalities in the Saturday Naxal attack in the state, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) lost eight men, including seven CoBRA commandos, while one jawan is from the Bastariya battalion, eight from the DRG and five from the Special Task Force.
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Cutting short his election campaign in Assam, Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday morning arrived in Chhattisgarh to chair a high-level meeting with state leaders and officials. Besides, he will also visit the injured in the state capital Raipur.