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Sheela Bhatt in Dehradun
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday took the Congress and the Left parties to task for raking up the issue of the purchase of coffins for the Kargil dead, saying the opposition is demoralising the Indian soldiers.
Addressing a 25000-strong meeting at the parade ground in Dehradun, the prime minister asked the Congress to be patient and exercise 'restraint' in opposing the ruling party.
He said, "All over the country the Congress party is alleging that we have paid a higher price while purchasing coffins for the Kargil martyrs. Kargil war was on. Our dead soldiers were lying on the mountains. In the past, a soldier's body was cremated on the war front. But we decided to stop this system. We thought that it's the responsibility of the government to send a soldier's body to his loved ones so that they can have an antim darshan (Last glimpse)."
He added, "Since it's difficult to preserve the body, we needed coffins, which were sturdy enough. Foreign countries were manufacturing it and we were not."
He claimed that the inquiry into the purchase proved that 'no one has profited from it (purchase of coffins)'.
He accused the Congress party of politicising the issue to bag a few votes and win an election.
"Think of a soldier on the border who is facing the Pakistani army. When he reads in the newspaper that after his (possible) death the coffin that will carry him has been purchased at a higher price and the ruling party has profited from it, Uske dil ko kitni chot lagegi? (How much it would hurt his sentiments?). It hurts my sentiments too," the prime minister said.
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