Retd air force official Anil Kumar Kaushik joins Congress

India managed to get its fighter pilots released in just one day in 1958, a retired former flight engineer of the Indian Air Force (IAF), Anil Kumar Kaushik, said on Tuesday, while joining the Congress party. He ridiculed the present government for claiming credit for the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in just two days. He reiterated that previous governments also ordered surgical strike-like special operations in the interest of the country, but never used them for political gains.

Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda welcomed Kaushik to the party at Gujarat Congress headquarters in the city. Kaushik served in the IAF for 17 years as a flight engineer and has experience of 1,200 hours of flying before retiring in the 1990s at the rank of sergeant.

"In 1958, fighter plane of our Wing Commander Ramlal and his co-pilot was shot down. But they were released the very next day by Pakistan. The government did not indulge in chest beating or taking credit for the release," Kaushik informed reporters. He criticized the current BJP-led government for claiming credit for release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

He said that never in the past had the operations by armed forces been politicized, like was being done by the present government. He said that a prime minister represents the entire country and not just one political party. Similarly, the armed and paramilitary forces also work for the country and do not belong to any political party. Kaushik highlighted a number of Special Heliborne Operations (SHO) carried out by his unit as part of Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka and in northeastern states. "The Congress never took credit for several important army operations, such as liberation of Goa and East Pakistan (that went on to become modern-day Bangladesh). Surgical strikes also took place in the past. But, the party (Congress) never used such army operations to get political mileage," Kaushik told reporters.