“Jawans meant to die”: Old statement by BJP MP circulated as recent remark after Pulwama attack

In the wake of the deadly terror attack in Pulwama, Kashmir which led to over 40 CRPF jawans being martyred, a quotation ascribed to a BJP leader has gone viral on social media.

सेना के जवान मरने के लिए ही होते हैं. सेना को मरने के लिए ही पैसे मिलते हैं…..!#नेपाल_सिंह भाजपा सांसद (Army jawans are bound to get killed. They are paid for doing so- translation). This statement has been attributed to Nepal Singh, a BJP MP.

The official handle of Mumbai Congress also posted about this statement, tweeting a Times of India article which quoted Nepal Singh.

‘Soldiers die, such things happen,’ says BJP MP Nepal Singh. Such insensitivity, while the Country mourns deaths of our Jawans. https://t.co/ZiY4ltHj46

— MumbaiCongress (@INCMumbai) February 15, 2019

The above post is by a Facebook page We Hate Na Rendra Mo Di. The infographic is by Viral In India, a popular page with a large following which mostly posts anti-BJP content and has spread misinformation in the past. The quote has also been shared by several individual users on Facebook as well as Twitter.

Not a recent statement

While the statement has been correctly ascribed to Nepal Singh, BJP MP from Rampur, it was made last year i.e. in January 2018, and is NOT related to the recent terror attack in Pulwama. Singh’s words had been covered extensively and had caused a massive furore, following which he had tendered an apology. In the video posted below, Nepal Singh can be heard uttering those controversial words. Incidentally, the backdrop of this statement was a terror attack which had taken place on a CRPF training camp in Pulwama on December 31, 2017 in which four CRPF personnel were martyred.

While the BJP MP was unanimously criticised for his insensitive utterances and rightly so, the attempt to portray it as a recent statement in the wake of the Pulwama attack is mischievous and smacks of political opportunism.