Pulwama Attack: Rahul Gandhi called out for using mobile phone during wreath-laying ceremony at Palam airport

Feb 17 (AZINS) Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who on Friday paid tributes to the CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama terror attack at the Palam airport in Delhi, was criticised for looking at his mobile phone while the wreath-laying ceremony was underway.

On Friday, the mortal remains of martyred CRPF jawans were brought from Srinagar and were kept at Palam Airport in Delhi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several Union Ministers, leaders from the opposition parties and three chiefs of forces paid their respects to the slain security personnel.

After laying wreath, Mr Gandhi was standing behind the caskets with Army chief General Bipin Rawat on left and Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on right. While everybody was standing there in silence and in the state of mourning, the Congress chief took out his mobile phone from his pocket and started checking it. From the movement of his fingers on the phone, it seemed he was typing something.

Mr Gandhi's actions were noticed by many who called him out on Twitter for showing disrespect to fallen soldiers.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed in the attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday when a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into the convoy of security personnel.

Gandhi paid homage to the slain security personnel by laying a wreath where the caskets carrying the mortal remains of the soldiers were kept at the Palam technical area. The Congress chief paid his tributes after the three armed forces chiefs' homage to them.

Earlier on Friday, Gandhi described the assault as an attack on India's soul and said his party, as well as the entire opposition, was fully supportive of the government and the security forces.