Congress questions 'surgical strike'; says govt resorts to such action when they have a bad day

The Congress today sought to blunt the government claims of inflicting "heavy casualties" on the insurgent group NSCN(K) along the India-Myanmar border, saying similar action has taken place in the past too.

Senior Congress spokesperson P Chidambaram also took a dig at the government, saying whenever they face "a bad day", they do "a surgical strike".

"From time to time, at the border, there is engagement between our paramilitary forces and the rebel groups. It has happened before. It has happened many times when I was home minister. This happened before.

"If you ask (former home minister L K) Advani ji, he will tell you the same thing. If we ask Sushil Kumar Shinde Ji, he will tell you the same thing. But in this government, whenever they face a bad day, they have to do a surgical strike somewhere," he said.

Taking a dig at the government, Chidambaram said, "Everything in this country is a surgical strike." On the India-Myanmar border, there are dense forests which have always sanctuaries for rebel groups, who take shelter there.

He said it is the media which is reporting it as surgical strike and the government has denied it.

The Army said that it inflicted "heavy casualties" on the insurgent group NSCN (K) during "retaliatory" fire along the India-Myanmar border on the Nagaland side in the early hours today.