The Congress party has resorted to using the unfortunate assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for political purposes. After Abe was shot by a man in Nara city in Japan, Surendra Rajput, National Media Panellist of the Congress Party, rushed to Twitter and stated that the murderer of Shinzo Abe was a member of the Japanese Self Defence Forces (SDF), which he compared with the Agnipath scheme announced by the Indian Armed Forces in collaboration with the Government of India.
In the tweet, Rajput said, “Shinzo Abe #ShinzoAbeShot the shooter #tetsuyayamagami Yamagami He had worked in Japan’s SDF i.e. Army without pension.”
The Japanese Self Defence Forces are the military forces of Japan, which includes Japan Ground Self-Defence Force, Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force, and Japan Air Self-Defence Force. The personnel in the Japanese defence forces receive an one-time payment after their retirement, but there is not a regular pension scheme for them. Therefore, the Congress leader tried to equate SDF with Agnipath, to score political points over an assassination that has been condemned by leaders from all across the world.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has slammed this statement by Surendra Rajput, a spokesperson of the Congress party. BJP National Spokesman Shehzad Poonawalla condemned the remarks, saying that the official spokesperson of Congress picked even Shinzo Abe’s terrible death to engage in petty politics.
Shehzad said, “There has to be a limit to this. This is embarrassing & quite disgusting. It is devoid of fact but it is devoid of morality & any sense of propriety to politicise the death of a great world leader & India’s true friend. I hope Congress will act on him without delay.”
Former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo was shot by a miscreant in the city of Nara on Friday. While addressing a rally in western Japan, Abe was shot from behind. He was immediately transported to the hospital and was being treated. He has, however, been declared dead.
Notably, the recently announced Agnipath scheme by the Armed Forces in collaboration with the Government of India has come under attack from opposition parties throughout the country, including the Congress party. Pressure groups across the country worked to influence the decisions made by authorities in this regard.