Prakash Javadekar made the remark after the opposition parties met earlier on Wednesday. (File) Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and his cabinet colleague Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said the opposition statement, hitting at the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would play into Pakistan's hands. The opposition issued the statement in the afternoon after leaders of 21 parties met in Parliament to discuss the current escalation of hostilities with Pakistan. Contending that the opposition allegations were "baseless", Mr Javadekar said, Who is happy (with the joint statement)? Pakistan, its army and its media". The Pakistani media, he said, is using it to claim that the political establishment in India is not united in its fight against terror, and cited a video clipping from a Pakistani news channel to prove his point. In a series of tweets, Union minister Arun Jaitley also hit out at the opposition. The whole nation has spoken in one voice. Why, then is India's opposition alleging that the Government is politicising our Anti-Terror Operations. — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 27, 2019 My appeal to India's opposition - "Let the country speak in one voice". Please introspect - "Your ill advised statement is being used by Pakistan to bolster its case". — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 27, 2019 His tweets drew a rejoinder from Congress's Randeep Surjewala. Mr. Jaitley, It's BJP & its leadership who require real introspection. Entire opposition stood as one backing the armed forces & the Govt. Still, Amit Shah & entire BJP resorted to credit seeking for the sacrifice of our martyrs & indulged in blaming the Congress provocatively https://t.co/BlOLgX1gwE — Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) February 27, 2019 The opposition statement had accused the "leaders of the ruling party" for "blatant politicisation of the sacrifices of the armed forces" - a veiled reference to the BJP attacks on opposition parties since the February 14 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. At the opening of the National War Memorial earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ripped into the Congress, accusing it of neglecting the needs of the armed forces. Indicating the Balakot air strikes and their aftermath, the opposition leaders said the government has failed to take them into confidence. A statement released at the end of the meeting read: "The Prime Minister has, regrettably, not convened an all-party meeting as per the established practice in our democracy". The BJP was also targetted over its scheduled election-linked programmes. Today, the Prime Minister is expected to address party workers through video-conference to discuss polling booth management. The Congress has already cancelled its working committee meet that was scheduled for today. BJP leaders told NDTV that changing the programme of the Prime Minister and other senior leaders of the party at this point would help terrorists' designs to disrupt the democratic process.<doc-sep>By PTI NEW DELHI: The opposition parties have decided to drop the formulation of the Common Minimum Programme as the agenda for their meeting on Wednesday and will now discuss the strikes against the terror camps in Pakistan instead, sources said. Senior leaders in the opposition confirmed that in a discussion with the Congress, the CPI(M) and the CPI said that they will only be part of the meeting if Common Minimum Programme is off the table. With the change in agenda, sources said Left parties are now on board. Opposition leaders who are set to attend the meeting are Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, among others. Sources indicated that throughout the day Congress was in two minds about the meeting as they felt that it would be bad optics to criticise the government or Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after the strikes in Pakistan which even the opposition parties have lauded. ALSO READ: Balakot air strike: At all-party meet, leaders laud IAF, assure Modi government of support in any anti-terror action "The problem is that not holding the meeting would also mean receding space to the BJP. From the beginning we were saying that let the opposition meeting be on Pulwama," said an opposition leader. The Trinamool Congress said that Banerjee's book launch event here has been cancelled. After the February 13 meeting of opposition leaders, the decision to formulate a Common Minimum Programme was mooted, which would act as a roadmap for them to fight the Lok Sabha elections against the BJP. The Left parties had maintained that forging a national-level tie-up should be taken up after the elections and so should be the Common Minimum Programme. They feel that the priority should be to forge state-level alliances and the primary objective of the opposition parties at the national level should be to defeat the BJP.<doc-sep>Congress president Rahul Gandhi read out the statement. 21 opposition parties have issued a joint statement, condemning the Pulwama terror attack, and lauding the courage of Indian Air Force pilots who destroyed a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp situated in Pakistan. However, they have alleged that the ruling party -- the BJP -- was politicizing "the sacrifices made by our Armed Forces". Congress president Rahul Gandhi read out the statement. Here is the full statement made by opposition parties "The meeting of leaders of 21 political parties condemned the dastardly Pulwama terror attack by Pakistan-sponsored terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed on 14th February 2019. The meeting paid homage to our martyrs and expressed solidarity with our Armed Forces in crushing the menace of terrorism. The meeting lauded the action taken by the Indian Air Force against the terrorist camp on 26th February 2019 and praised our Armed Forces for their valour and bravery. The meeting of 21 parties expressed their deep anguish over the blatant politicization of the sacrifices made by our Armed Forces by leaders of the ruling party. National security must transcend narrow political considerations. The leaders observed that the Prime Minister has, regrettably, not convened an-all party meeting as per the established practice in our democracy. The leaders expressed concern on the emerging security situation. Post the statement from the MEA regarding targeting of our military installations and loss of one fighter aircraft, the leaders condemned the Pakistani misadventure and expressed their deep concern for the safety of our missing pilot. Leaders urged the Government to take the nation into confidence on all measures to protect India's sovereignty, unity and integrity."<doc-sep>
My appeal to India’s opposition - “Let the country speak in one voice”. Please introspect - “Your ill advised state… https://t.co/VLchgx2mP3 — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) 1551284991000 The whole nation has spoken in one voice. Why, then is India’s opposition alleging that the Government is politicis… https://t.co/MloszhNwGi — Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) 1551284991000 Mr. Jaitley, It’s BJP & its leadership who require real introspection. Entire opposition stood as one backing the… https://t.co/hbsURC96eZ — Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) 1551286345000 NEW DELHI: Union minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday appealed to the opposition parties to "let the country speak in one voice" and said their "ill-advised statement against the government was being used by Pakistan to bolster its case. "Jaitley was responding to a joint statement by 21 opposition parties in which they accused the government of " blatant politicisation sacrifices of armed forces. "The cross border terror attack in Pulwama was a reality. The Balakot operation was India’s anti-terror preemptive strike to defend its sovereignty. The whole nation has spoken in one voice. Why, then is India’s opposition alleging that the government is politicising our anti-terror operations," Jaitley said in a series of tweets. "My appeal to India’s opposition - Let the country speak in one voice. Please introspect - Your ill advised statement is being used by Pakistan to bolster its case,” he said.The Congress rejected Jaitley's charge and said it was the BJP and its leadership that required real introspection. "Entire opposition stood as one backing the armed forces & the Govt. Still, Amit Shah & entire BJP resorted to credit seeking for the sacrifice of our martyrs & indulged in blaming the Congress provocatively," Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a tweet.Earlier, BJP leader Prakash Javadekar also slammed the opposition parties. "The statement by the 21 opposition parties has been lapped up by the Pakistani leaders and media to give an expression that India is not united even in this hour of crisis," he said in a press conference. "Who is happy (with the joint statement)? Pakistan, its army and its media," Javadekar said.Jadvadekar said in such situations, parties should think how their remarks and statements are reflected and used to create a narrative.Earlier today, 21 opposition parties expressed "deep anguish" over what they alleged was "blatant politicisation" of the sacrifices of armed forces and urged the government to take the nation into confidence on all measures to protect India's sovereignty, unity and integrity.After a meeting of the opposition parties that lasted over three hours in the Parliament House Library, the leaders expressed concern over the prevailing security situation in the country amid growing tensions with Pakistan. "The meeting of 21 parties expressed deep anguish over the blatant politicisation of the sacrifices made by our armed forces by leaders of the ruling party. National security must transcend narrow political considerations. "The leaders observed that the prime minister has, regrettably, not convened an all-party meeting as per established practice in our democracy," a joint statement by the parties said.