New Delhi, Mar 6 (IT): When Digvijaya Singh described last month's suicide bombing in south Kashmir as an "accident" on Tuesday, the government reacted angrily.
But now, he points to a top BJP leader's use of the same word and asks: "Would Modi ji and his ministers like to say something about Maurya ji?"
The senior Congressman has retweeted a video that shows Keshav Prasad Maurya, an Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister, describing the terrorist attack as an "big accident".
Singh responded to his own critics with a dare: "If you are brave enough, then file a case against me."
On February 14, a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a convoy in Pulwama, killing 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers.
When India announced less than two weeks later that it had conducted a pre-emptive airstrike on JeM in Pakistan, it was widely seen as revenge for the killings in Pulwama.
Now, the result of the airstrike specifically, the death toll has been hotly debated by the Opposition. The government is deeply annoyed.
Digvijaya Singh, in fact, has asked for proof of the strike, citing the American operation that killed Osama bin Laden as an example.
The Indian Air Force has said it hit its target, but also that it did not count casualties.
If the IAF had dropped bombs in the jungle, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said on Monday, there was no need for Pakistan to respond.
"India's respected and authentic NTRO surveillance system has said that before Indian pilots dropped the bombs, 300 mobile phones were active there," Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday.
"There's no need to tell you how many were killed."