'She Mocked Democracy': BJP Launches Tirade Over Supriya Shrinate's 'Martyrs' Remark After Chhattisgarh Encounter

Congress leader Supriya Shrinate finds herself on the backfoot yet again after a video of her calling Maoists “martyrs” went viral on the internet. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit out at the Congress over Srinate’s remark on the Kanker encounter in which 29 Naxals were shot dead by armed forces.

“Supriya Shrinate, the national spokesperson of Congress, has made fun of the people of Chhattisgarh, the police force and democracy by calling the Naxalites, who have stained the land of Chhattisgarh with the blood of innocent Chhattisgarhis, as martyrs. Your arrival is not acceptable on this holy land,” the Chhattisgarh BJP unit posted on X.

Shrinate sparked a controversy on Wednesday by expressing sympathy for the 29 Naxals killed in an encounter with the BSF in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker on Tuesday. Shrinate called the Naxals “martyrs” and said that a thorough investigation should be done into the incident.

BJP leader Shehzad Poonawala, reacting to Shrinate’s remark, said this was “expected of the Congress, but unthinkable.” “When we have seen a very important operation that has taken place in Chhattisgarh, where 29 Naxalites were eliminated by the security personnel and this was indeed a big achievement for the security personnel, instead of coming out and welcoming the security forces, their action, today the Congress party, has done what is expected of them but unthinkable. They come out and claim that the Naxalites are essentially martyrs and they raise question marks on the bravery of the security personnel,” he said.

In one of the largest operations by security forces in Chhattisgarh, as many as 29 Naxalites were killed and their bodies were recovered on Tuesday in the Kanker area. Of the 29 Maoists, more than a dozen were women who were wielding deadly weapons and trying to protect the men when forces attacked them.

Three security personnel, including two Border Security Force jawans and one personnel of the state police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG), suffered injuries during the encounter.