‘Wrong dates, wrong facts’: Sachin Pilot hits out at Amit Malviya

Sachin Pilot, the Congress leader on Tuesday hit out at BJP’s leader Amit Malviya and denied all the allegations made against his father, Rajesh Pilot. According to the sources, Malviya claimed that Pilot’s father Rajesh Pilot had bombed Mizoram’s capital Aizawl in 1966.

Replying to Amit Malviya on the claims he made against Pilot’s father, he tweeted, “You have the wrong dates, wrong facts…Yes, as an Indian Air Force pilot, my late father did drop bombs. But that was on erstwhile East Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pak war and not as you claim, on Mizoram on the 5th of March 1966. He was commissioned into the IAF only on 29th October 1966!”

Pilot said that his father’s appointment for the IAF was finally received on October 29, 1966. Rajeshwar Prasad, also known as Rajesh Pilot, was appointed as a Pilot Officer in the Indian Air Force according to a certificate issued to him by President of India V. V. Giri during his response. Rajesh Pilot received the certificate on February 10, 1970, and Giri served as India’s President from August 24, 1969, until August 24, 1974.

Here’s what Amit Malviya’s post reads:

Amit Malviya, underlining the names of Rajesh Pilot and Suresh Kalmadi, in the post on Twitter, said, “Rajesh Pilot and Suresh Kalmadi were flying the Indian Air Force planes that bombed Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, on 5 March 1966. Later both became MPs on Congress tickets and ministers in the government.”

“It is clear that Indira Gandhi gave respect and a place in politics as a reward to those who carried out air raids on their own people in the North East,” Malviya said.

PM Modi on Mizoram bombing in Lok Sabha

Even, PM Narendra Modi also lashed out at Congress during his reply to the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha monsoon session. PM Modi said that then PM Indira Gandhi had used the IAF against Mizoram. “On 5th March, 1956, Congress carried out attacks through Air Force on the innocent people of Mizoram. The state still cannot forget that pain. Congress should answer if it was the Air Force of any other country. Were the people of Mizoram not the people of our country? Was their security not the responsibility of the Indian government? Till this day, Mizoram observes mourning on March 5,” PM Modi had said.