New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday again trained his guns at the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as he questioned his silence and said his silence is damning.
Rahul Gandhi, who us also the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha asked that how many Indian jets were downed during the conflict.
In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi, who is the Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli said, “EAM Jaishankar’s silence isn’t just telling — it’s damning. So I’ll ask again: How many Indian aircraft did we lose because Pakistan knew?”
“This wasn’t a lapse. It was a crime. And the nation deserves the truth,” the Congress leader said.
Rahul Gandhi’s response came two days after he had fired his salvo at the government and said that informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime.
On a post on X, on Saturday, he had said, “EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it. 1. Who authorised it? 2. How many aircraft did our airforce lose as a result?”
Meanwhile, Congress media and publicity department chairman Pawan Khera also addressed a press conference and slammed Jaishankar’s silence on why Pakistan was informed before the conflict.
Khera said, “Wars are not fought only on borders, but are also fought by political strategists. While our armed forces bravely perform their duties on the borders, the strategists sitting in the capital also play an important role in the war. The role of all these people is very important which can either boost the might of the army or harm the might of the army.”
The Congress leader said that their leader Rahul Gandhi has asked some questions on the statement of the External Affairs Minister.
“This becomes very important because in the last one week, US President Donald Trump has been repeating in different countries that he mediated to stop the war and was one behind the ceasefire.
“Trump also said a very horrifying thing that he stopped the war by threatening India to stop trade. That is, the sindoor deal continued, the Prime Minister remained silent. Not a single word came out of the mouth of the Foreign Minister,” he said taking a pot shot at the government.
He said that “we do not know what secrets US and China have about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Foreign Minister and BJP leaders, because they never open their mouth in front of America and China”.
Taking a swipe at the Prime Minister, he said, “Whenever he (Modi) opens his mouth, it is to directly give a clean chit to China.”
Khera further said that we don’t care about the secrets they might have of yours, but why is it harming the country”.
“Why will justice not be served for the Pahalgam attack, because you are afraid of China and America. The entire country and the world knows what China’s role was in this war and US itself is boasting about its role in stopping this war, but Jaishankar does not open his mouth,” he claimed.
Targeting the External Affairs Minister, he said, “Jaishankar himself told the media agencies that we had informed Pakistan before launching the attack. Now what does this informing mean?”
Firing salvos at Jaishankar, he said, “Does the Foreign Minister have so much trust in Pakistan that the terrorists will sit quietly at his command? What is the relationship of the External Affairs Minister and why did he inform Pakistan before the attack?”
“In fact, this is not diplomacy but spying. Everyone heard what the foreign minister said – yet it is being covered up. Was it because of this information that Masood Azhar survived and Hafiz Saeed escaped alive?” Kgera alleged.
Khera asked that doesn’t the country have the right to know that Masood Azhar was saved again by informing Pakistan about the attack, because earlier Masood Azhar was released at the time of Kandahar hijacking.
“This statement of the External Affairs Minister is sensitive because it seems that the terrorists must have fled from their hideouts. Prime Minister Modi and the Foreign Minister will have to answer why this was done,” Khera demanded.
He also referred to the news of some spies linked to ISI being caught in the country.
Citing examples of BJP and RSS’s long history of spying, Khera said that earlier also there was news that Pradeep Kurulkar of DRDO, who was associated with RSS, used to give information to Pakistan, while another news came that BJP’s Dhruv Saxena was caught working for ISI.
He questioned what happened to them. “Does BJP-RSS have a history of spying?
What is your relationship with Pakistan?”
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, he said, “When Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he had said that the problem is not on the border – the problem is in Delhi. Today we are telling you about this problem that there are such people in the country who inform Pakistan about everything in advance.”
He said Jaishankar is making our country a laughing stock by making such statements.
“Therefore the government should answer that. How many aircraft did the country lose? What losses did the country suffer? How many terrorists escaped?” Khera asked.
The External Affairs Ministry had on Saturday refuted claims on social media that Jaishankar had acknowledged that India alerted Pakistan before the launch of Operation Sindoor on May 7, describing the reports as an “utter misrepresentation”.