Rahul Gandhi launched a blistering attack on the Modi government during the Lok Sabha debate on Operation Sindoor, alleging that the Centre lacked the political will to confront Pakistan and instead tied the hands of the armed forces.
Opposition Stands with Forces, But Govt Surrendered to Pakistan: Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday praised the Indian Armed Forces for their valor and trained his guns at the Narendra Modi-led government at the center and said the government lacked the political will to fight Pakistan, and because of that, it asked the armed forces to attack with their hands tied behind their backs.
He also asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show the courage and reject the claims of US President Donald Trump that he mediated a ceasefire and also targeted the government, saying that it lacks political will and does not give the forces freedom of operation.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Operation Sindoor, Rahul Gandhi, who is also a Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli, said, "A brutal attack, a heartless attack organized and orchestrated by the Pakistani state, took place in Pahalgam, where terrorists mercilessly killed young people and old people in cold blood."
He said that the entire opposition condemned Pakistan.
"The moment Operation Sindoor began, in fact before it began, the opposition committed itself that we will stand like a rock with the forces and with the elected government of India. We heard all the jibes, the sarcastic remarks from some of the leaders, and we said nothing. This was agreed upon with all the leaders of the INDIA alliance, and we are proud as the opposition that we stood united as we should have," he said.
Rahul Gandhi also mentioned that he met the family members of the Pahalgam terror attack in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and they shared the memories of their son and husband, who was killed in the terror attack on April 22.
"What happened was wrong, and everyone condemned it," he said.
"When we meet the family members of armed forces, after shaking hands I feel that he is from a security forces family. He is a tiger, and he will die, but he will not bow down. He is ready to fight and die for the country," he said.
Rahul Gandhi cited the example that a tiger has to be given full freedom.
"You need to give them full freedom if you need to take work from them. There is a political will and freedom of Operation," he said.
"Similarly, if you want to take full use of forces, you need to give full freedom of operation," he said.
The former Congress chief said that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke about the 1971 war in the House yesterday.
He said that in 1971 there was political will, and despite 100s of aircraft coming and an aircraft carrier coming, the government said, Let it come, we don't care. Similarly, then Army chief Sam Manekshaw said that we need six months as forces to prepare for war. "Indira Gandhi said take your time, and this was freedom of operation and maneuver. More than 1 lakh Pakistani soldiers surrendered. Bangladesh was formed," he said.
Taking a dig at the Defence Minister, Rahul Gandhi said, "Singh said that operation Sindoor began at 1.05 am in the morning. Operation Sindoor lasted 22 minutes. And then he said the most surprising thing: he said that at 1.35 a.m. we called Pakistan and told them we have hit non-military targets and we do not want escalation."
"These are the words of Defence Minister of India. He may not understand the meaning of the words he said. The DGMO was told to ask for a ceasefire at 1.35 a.m. in the night. You told Pakistanis what we will do. You told them we will not target military targets. And we don't want war.
"You directly told Pakistan your political will. You told them that you don't want to fight," he said, adding that it means the Government of India informed Pakistan that we don't have political will and don't want war and surrendered.
Rahul Gandhi also said that Captain Shiv Kumar, Defense Attache, had mentioned about how India lost some jets.
Referring to Shiv Kumar's remarks, the Congress leader said that he mentioned that we didn't mean to attack their military establishments.
"Meaning you went into Pakistan, and you told our pilots to not attack their Defence systems. So the point is aircraft were lost because of the commands given not to target the military establishments," he claimed.
He also mentioned the remarks made by Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan to back his claims and said, "CDS, you did not make any mistake. A mistake was made by the political establishments. The air force is not to blame for this. You send aircraft in areas protected by air defense systems, then they will come down."
The Congress leader also asked why Pakistan was told that we will not target its military establishments and we don't want escalation.
The Centre, he said, does not understand what deterrence means and had dug a hole for itself by saying it would attack Pakistan every time there was a terror attack in India.
"The goal of the exercise was the image of Prime Minister Modi. That he uses the picture of the Air Force to protect his image," Rahul Gandhi said.
Referring to the US President repeated claims of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, Rahul Gandhi said, "After that, Donald Trump has said 29 times that I got the ceasefire. If he is lying, then the Prime Minister should say here (in Parliament) that he is lying. If he has the courage of Indira Gandhi, let him say here that Donald Trump is a liar. And he did not announce a ceasefire, and no jets were lost.
"If you have 50 percent of the courage of Indira Gandhi," Rahul Gandhi said.
To this the Lok Sabha speaker intervened, to which Rahul Gandhi said, 'Maja aa raha hai,' and 'abhi opening ki hai, thoda set ho raha hu.' Then after Birla's intervention, Rahul Gandhi said sorry.
Taking a swipe at External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, he said, "A new word has come, this is a new normal. The External Affairs Minister uses it. He mentioned in his statement that foreign countries have condemned the terror attack. This is correct."
"But he didn't say one thing about the fact that none of the country condemned Pakistan, everyone has condemned terrorism," Rahul Gandhi said.
He said that not a single country has done so.
He referred to the Congress-led UPA government and said, "During UPA, all countries used to condemn Pakistan."
He further targeted the government over its diplomatic failure and said that the man behind Pahalagam, Pakistan's Army General Asim Munir, was having lunch with US President.
He said that Trump invited Munir for lunch at the White House, whereas our Prime Minister didn't go there.
He also said that the mastermind of Pahalgam had lunch, and US President says that he had him for lunch to thank him for not going into the war and ending it.
The Congress leader mocked the government and said that victory had been declared, but the operation hadn’t even ended yet.
He also said that India’s biggest foreign policy challenge was keeping China and Pakistan apart.
"I’d warned about it, but this government brought them together," Rahul Gandhi said, adding that the government says every act of terror is an act of war, but it is handing power to the terrorists.
Taking a pot shot at Jaishankar’s China remark, he said that the External Affairs Minister mentioned that we won’t fight China because it’s a bigger economy. "That’s not strategy, that’s fear talking," he added.
