Gehlot defends Sachin Pilot’s father on Mizoram bombing controversy

The BJP’s attack on the late Rajesh Pilot over the 1966 Mizoram bombing controversy became an occasion for Congress rivals in Rajasthan to close ranks, as Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot lambasted the BJP for insulting the Congress leader, who had served in the Indian Air Force and died in 2000.

The BJP’s attack on the late Rajesh Pilot over the 1966 Mizoram bombing controversy became an occasion for Congress rivals in Rajasthan to close ranks on Wednesday, as Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot lambasted the BJP for insulting the Congress leader, who had served in the Indian Air Force and died in 2000.

The late Rajesh Pilot, who resigned as a Squadron Leader and joined politics in 1979, was the father of former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot. BJP IT department head Amit Malviya had claimed that Rajesh Pilot and Suresh Kalmadi had dropped bombs as Air Force pilots in Mizoram in March 1966 and were rewarded in politics for carrying out air raids “on their own people”.

Mr. Gehlot said here that the late Rajesh Pilot was a “brave pilot” of the Indian Air Force. “By insulting him, the BJP is insulting the sacrifice of the Indian Air Force. The entire country should condemn this act,” Mr. Gehlot posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Mr. Gehlot’s attack on the BJP was seen here as an attempt to cosy up to Mr. Pilot, whom he had dismissed as the Deputy Chief Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee president following his rebellion in 2020. Ahead of this year’s Assembly election, the ruling Congress leaders in the State are putting up a united face on the instructions of the party’s central leadership.

Mr. Pilot had also hit out at the BJP on Tuesday over Mr. Malviya’s claim, and pointed out that his facts and dates were wrong, as his father was commissioned into the Air Force in October 1966, seven months after the purported bombing in Mizoram.

The Tonk MLA said his father had dropped the bombs on erstwhile East Pakistan in the 1971 India-Pakistan war, and not as Mr. Malviya claimed, on Mizoram on March 5, 1966. Mr. Pilot shared a certificate from the President proving that the late Rajesh Pilot was commissioned in the Air Force on October 29, 1966.