India managed to get its fighter pilots released in just one day in 1958, a retired former flight engineer of the Indian Air Force (IAF), Anil Kumar Kaushik, said on Tuesday, while joining the Congress party. He ridiculed the present government for claiming credit for the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman in just two days. He reiterated that previous governments also ordered surgical strike-like special operations in the interest of the country, but never used them for political gains.
Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda welcomed Kaushik to the party at Gujarat Congress headquarters in the city. Kaushik served in the IAF for 17 years as a flight engineer and has experience of 1,200 hours of flying before retiring in the 1990s at the rank of sergeant.