Sachin Pilot tells ‘You have the wrong dates, wrong facts’ to BJP IT cell chief

New Delhi: The BJP’s IT cell in-charge, Amit Malviya, who is known for his fierce comments and concocted or half-cooked stories, once again found himself in turmoil by commenting on the role of Rajesh Pilot, the late Congress leader and father of Sachin Pilot, in the 1966 Aizawl bombing incident.

Malviya had alleged that Rajesh Pilot was one of the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots responsible for bombing Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, in March 1966.

In a post on X, Malviya had claimed that Rajesh Pilot and Suresh Kalmadi were flying the Indian Air Force planes that bombed Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, on March 5, 1966.

"Later both became MPs on Congress tickets and ministers in the government. It is clear that Indira Gandhi gave a place in politics as a reward, gave respect to those who carried out air raids on their own people in the Northeast," Mr Malviya had said in the post in Hindi.

Pilot rebuked the statement by sharing a document proving that his father's appointment with the IAF was only in October 1966, effectively refuting Malviya's claims. "You have the wrong dates, wrong facts... He was commissioned into the IAF only on 29th October 1966! Jai Hind and a happy Independence Day," Pilot asserted on his social media platform.

Malviya's claims had also triggered a political storm, with the Congress party accusing him of spreading false information for political gain. Prime Minister Narendra Modi even referred to the Aizawl bombing during a recent parliamentary debate, emphasizing that it was a regrettable instance of the Air Force being deployed against Indian citizens.

The Congress last week hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his criticism of then PM Indira Gandhi's decision to use the Indian Air Force in Mizoram in 1966, saying he "twisted decisions" taken by his predecessors out of their political and historical context to score "petty debating points".