Oppn targets Centre on Pahalgam attack
NEW DELHI, July 29:
In a no-holds-barred attack, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the armed forces to protect his image after the Pahalgam attack and dared him to categorically rebut US President Donald Trump’s India-Pakistan ceasefire claims.
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“If Modi has even 50 per cent of the courage that Indira Gandhi had, then clearly he must say in Parliament — Donald Trump is lying,” he said.
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Participating in a special discussion in Lok Sabha on “India’s strong, successful and decisive Operation Sindoor in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam”, Gandhi also said that if the government had listened to his statement in the Lok Sabha a few months ago on China and Pakistan fusing together, “you would not have lost those five planes” during Operation Sindoor.
Gandhi claimed that the Modi government lacked political will in carrying out Operation Sindoor and that it had “tied the hands” of the armed forces, not letting them have operational freedom which he said was a must in such situations.
Gandhi claimed the government revealed sensitive details about Operation Sindoor to Pakistan soon after it was launched.
“Yesterday, I watched Rajnath Singh ji’s speech. He said that Operation Sindoor began at 1:05 in the morning and lasted for 22 minutes. He said a very shocking thing: that at 1:35, we called Pakistan and told them that we had hit non-military targets and we didn’t want escalation. These are the words of the defence minister of India,” the former Congress president said.
“You told Pakistan exactly what you would do: that you would not target military establishments and you didn’t want escalation. That’s surrender. Immediate surrender in 30 minutes,” Gandhi said, slamming the government.
“Rajnath Singh ji compared 1971 and Operation Sindoor in his speech. I want to remind him that in 1971 there was political will. The seventh fleet of America was coming, but the then prime minister Indira Gandhi ji said that we will do whatever we have to do in Bangladesh.
He said, “General Manekshaw told Indira Gandhi ji that I will not do the operation right now, I need six months. Indira ji gave him complete freedom to do so. Indira ji had said that you can take as much time as you need… After this, one lakh Pakistani soldiers surrendered and a new country was formed.”
Gandhi cited remarks by Defence Attache in Indonesia, Group Captain Shiv Kumar, to claim that there were constraints by the political leadership to not attack the Pakistani military establishment and their air defences.
Why was the Pakistani government told that India will neither attack their army infrastructure nor their air defence and why were the hands of the Indian Air Force tied, Gandhi asked.
He alleged that the goal of this exercise was to “protect the image of the PM”.
Meanwhgile, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said Home Minister Amit Shah must take responsibility for the “security lapse” that led to the Pahalgam terror attack, demanding that accountability be fixed and “whosoever is responsible should quit”.
Participating in the “Special discussion on India’s strong, successful and decisive ‘Operation Sindoor’ in response to terrorist attack in Pahalgam” in the Rajya Sabha, he attacked the Government citing Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha’s statement admitting to the security lapses that led to the terror attack.
Kharge also questioned the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of mediation and brokering a ceasefire with Pakistan, and asked whether India had accepted a third-party mediation with Pakistan.
“India’s strategic interests were not secured despite Howdy Modi, Namaste Trump, because nobody stood by you despite such deep friendship. No country, not even the US openly condemned Pakistan. This shows nobody supported you…,” Kharge said.
He asked why India did not object to economic packages for Pakistan by the World Bank and the IMF.
The leader of opposition posed four questions to the government, asking why India accepted a ceasefire even when Pakistan was on the backfoot and what are the terms of the ceasefire. He also asked whether US intervened during Operation Sindoor and at whose behest was that done.
The Congress president asked whether the operation against Pakistan was halted on the threat of trade, as claimed by Trump repeatedly.
“Did the US President broker this ceasefire as he is repeatedly claiming, and if so, isn’t this against India’s no-third party mediation policy?,” Kharge said.
Kharge said the government should release a report on the Pahalgam terror attack, as was done after the Kargil war.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also launched a blistering attack on the Government over the “lapses” that led to the Pahalgam terror attack and said Home Minister Amit Shah talked about Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and even her mother’s tears in Lok Sabha but did not answer “why the war” against Pakistan was halted.
Citing that after the Mumbai terror attacks the then Maharashtra Chief Minister and the then Home Minister resigned, Priyanka Gandhi questioned why the home minister Amit Shah had not resigned or taken responsibility for the attack.
She also took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying leadership is not just about taking credit but also taking responsibility.
Participating in a special discussion in Lok Sabha on “India’s strong, successful and decisive Operation Sindoor in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam”, Priyanka Gandhi said that if no aircraft had been downed during Operation Sindoor then what is the problem in stating this in Parliament.
Was no Government agency in the know that such a dastardly terror attack is going to happen and a plot is being hatched in Pakistan, the Congress general secretary asked.
“It is a big failure of our government and intelligence agencies. Who will take responsibility of this? Has anyone resigned? They keep talking about past but who will answer about what is happening in present,” she said.
A combative Priyanka Gandhi also took on Shah for his remarks earlier in the day when he cited then Union minister Salman Khurshid’s remarks to claim that then Congress president Sonia Gandhi “cried for the Batla House terrorists”.
“My mother’s tears were talked about in the House, I want to answer this. My mother’s tears fell when her husband was martyred by terrorists, when she was only 44-years-old. Today, I am standing in this House and talking about those 26 people (who were killed in Pahalgam) because I know their pain and feel it,” she said.
The MP from Wayanad in Kerala said Shah talked about Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, even her mother’s tears but did not answer “why the war was halted at a time when the enemy had nowhere to go”.
She said that the purpose of Operation Sindoor was to teach Pakistan a lesson, but perhaps this purpose remains unfulfilled, because “our diplomacy has failed”.
“The proof of this is that after Operation Sindoor, a Pakistani general, whose hands were stained with blood, was having lunch with the American president.
“If the purpose of Operation Sindoor was to eliminate terrorism, then Pakistan being chosen as the chairman of the United Nations’ ‘Counter-Terrorism Committee’ has dealt a blow to this purpose. Will our prime minister take responsibility for this, do they have the courage,” she asked.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav asked the Government in Lok Sabha to fix responsibility for the “intelligence failure” that led to the Pahalgam terror attack, saying it cannot get away after such incidents by merely admitting to a lapse.
Yadav raised questions on India ending the conflict with Pakistan abruptly and asked, “Under whose pressure was the ceasefire done?” (PTI)
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