Booklet row: BJP demands apology from Sonia, Congress calls it a mistake

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was in Lucknow where he attacked the Modi government for its failures, including those in handling India's relations with Pakistan and China.

Lucknow, June 4: A 15-page booklet distributed by Congress targeting the BJP-led NDA government seems to have backfired as the party landed itself into a controversy on Saturday for describing Jammu and Kashmir State as 'Indian Occupied Kashmir'.

The booklet named Aanch, which targets the BJP-led NDA government as it completes three years and highlights its failures, was released by Ghulam Nabi Azad and Raj Babbar during their visit to UP. The wrong map on Kashmir was published on page 12 of the 15-page booklet under the section security, while explaining about the challenges faced by India with the construction of China Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Terming the incident as highly objectionable UP BJP spokesperson Shalabh Mani Tripathi demanded an unconditional apology to the entire nation. "The Congress must make its stand clear whether the opposition party was with India or Pakistan. It is highly objectionable that when Indian soldiers were fighting with Pakistan sponsored militant in Kashmir, Congress was not ready to accept Kashmir as part of India," he added.

Meanwhile, The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday demanded an apology from Congress President Sonia Gandhi on release of a booklet with Jammu and Kashmir shown as Indian occupied Kashmir.

However, the Congress party swung into defensive mode, calling the gaffe a printing error.

"This is a printing error. However, we should have taken caution, we have committed a grave mistake, and we will ensure that such type of errors is not repeated," said Congress leader Ajay Makhan

Makhan went on to further add that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had committed the same mistake in 2014, where it had displayed the same map in their website.

The Congress also targeted the BJP saying that the ruling party has been lax in securing India's borders and that the defence preparedness of India has been compromised under the Narendra Modi government.

OneIndia News