Congress leader Sachin Pilot fact-checked BJP's IT department in-charge Amit Malviya on Tuesday after the latter attempted to spread disinformation over the 1966 IAF bombings in Mizoram.
The issue stems from Malviya's claim that Sachin's father Rajesh Pilot had "dropped bombs" as an air force pilot in the northeast state on March 5, 1966 — which was rebuked by the Congress leader.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Malviya had claimed that Rajesh Pilot and Suresh Kalmadi were flying the Indian Air Force planes that bombed Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram.
"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," Malviya had said in the post in Hindi.
In response, Pilot called out Malviya's lies saying the facts and dates are wrong as his father was commissioned into the force only in October of that. He also shared a certificate that shows Rajesh Pilot had been commissioned in the Indian Air Force on October 29, 1966 — nearly eight months after the bombings.
"@amitmalviya You have the wrong dates, wrong facts. Yes, as an Indian Air Force pilot, my late father did drop bombs. But that was in erstwhile East Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pak war and not as you claim, on Mizoram on the 5th of March 1966. He was commissioned into the IAF only on 29th October 1966! (Certificate attached). Jai hind and a happy Independence Day," Pilot wrote back on X.
While Suresh Kalmadi did serve in the IAF between 1964 and 1972, Malviya's claim alleging the former Union minister's involvement in the Aizawl bombings is unsubstantiated. In fact, there are no records under the air force database or the Gazette of India that conclusively shows whether Kalmadi piloted the Toofani fighters (Dassault Ouragan) which had been used in the Aizwal bombings.
Notably, 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."
Responding to the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, Modi had referred to the Aizawl bombings saying incidents such as the use of the Air Force to "attack the people in Mizoram" had shown the Congress party's "neglect" for the region.
(With additional inputs from PTI)