Stepping up the Opposition’s attack on the government over US President Donald Trump’s claims that he brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan after Operation Sindoor, Rahul Gandhi Tuesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show “courage” and declare Trump a liar if he was not speaking the truth.
“Donald Trump has said 29 times that he brought about the ceasefire. If he is lying… let the Prime Minister say he is lying. If he has the courage of Indira Gandhi, let him say here that Donald Trump is a liar. That you (Trump) did not make us cease fire and that we did not lose any planes… Even if he has 50% of the courage Indira Gandhi had, let him say it here,” Gandhi said. “Have the courage to tell him (Trump)… ‘To hell with you, you can’t stop any war. We are going to fight’.”
Throughout the special debate on Operation Sindoor in Parliament, the charge that the government “buckled under pressure from the US” and agreed to a ceasefire when the Indian forces were in “an advantageous position” against Pakistan has been a recurring theme of speeches made by Opposition leaders.
In his combative 37-minute speech, Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition, also alleged that the Indian forces went into the conflict with Pakistan with their “hands tied behind their back”, as the Modi government did not have “the political will” to wage a war with Pakistan.
“If you want to use the Indian forces, then you should have 100% political will. And secondly, you should give them full operational freedom. (Defence Minister) Rajnath Singh in his speech compared the 1971 (war with Pakistan) and Operation Sindoor. There was political will in 1971. In the Indian Ocean, the Seventh fleet (of the US) was approaching. The then Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi) said we will do whatever we want to do in Bangladesh… political will without any confusion,” Gandhi said.
He added: “General Manekshaw told Indira Gandhi that he cannot carry out the operation in the summers… he needs six months. Indira Gandhi told him take whatever time you want… because you should have the freedom of action, freedom to manoeuvre. One lakh Pakistani soldiers surrendered and a new country was created.”
Referring to the telephonic conversation that India’s DGMO (Director General of Military Operations) had with his Pakistani counterpart right after Operation Sindoor began, informing him about the attacks India had carried out on terror camps and hideouts in Pakistan, Gandhi called it “shocking” that India had conveyed that it had hit non-military targets and did not want escalation.
The Congress leader said this amounted to a “ceasefire” offer on the first night of Operation Sindoor itself. “You told the Pakistanis exactly what you would do. You told them that we will not hit military targets. You told them that we do not want escalation… You have told Pakistan directly that you don’t have the political will to fight… And this the Defence Minister has said, in the House… that we don’t want to escalate… (It was) immediate surrender in 30 minutes,” Gandhi said.
He also referred to the remarks made last month by Captain Shiv Kumar, India’s Defence Attache to Indonesia, that “India did lose some aircraft”. Gandhi said this happened “only because of the constraint put by the political leadership to not attack the military establishment or their (Pakistan’s) air defences”. “You went into Pakistan… you told our pilots to not attack their air defence systems… You tied their hands… What will happen? Planes will fall… You don’t want to answer, but everyone knows the outcome.”
Gandhi also referred to Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan’s remarks that “what is important is not the jets being downed, but why they were being downed”, and that the Indian forces had learnt from their mistakes, rectified the same and taken off again.
Gandhi said: “I want to tell CDS Anil Chauhan that you made no tactical mistake. The Indian Air Force made no mistake. The mistake was made by the political leadership… And Anil Chauhan must have the guts to say this… that my hands were tied behind my back.”
According to the Congress leader, the goal of this exercise was “to protect the PM’s image”. “Because he has the blood of the people of Pahalgam on his hands, the goal was to make sure that he used the Air Force to protect his image… It is dangerous for the country. The forces should be used only in national interest… If you want to use them, do not tie their hands behind their back.”
Gandhi added: “The nation is above your image, your politics and your PR…. Have the humility and dignity to understand that.”
In his address, the Congress leader also took on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. “Sometimes, this External Affairs Minister amazes me. He says, and even the Defence Minister, that we have deterred Pakistan. The man behind Pahalgam is Pakistan’s General (Asim) Munir, the Chief of Army Staff. That man is having lunch with the President of the US… Trump is breaking all protocol and inviting the man who has (perpetrated) terrorism in India to have lunch… and the PM has not said anything.”
Gandhi said General Munir also had a meeting with US Central Command Chief Gen Michael Kurilla, and generals from four Central Asian countries on “how to prevent terrorism”. “Which planet is the Foreign Minister sitting on? Please come down. You have flown off somewhere.”
Gandhi also questioned the government’s new security doctrine to treat any act of terror as an act of war. “Fantastic idea… What this statement is saying is that any terrorist who wants to make India fight a war has to now just do one attack in India… which means you have given all the power to terrorists… It’s crazy. You have the entire idea of deterrence and turned it upside down… The next attack that happens, what will you do? You will attack Pakistan again? This government is clueless about even what deterrence means. This government is clueless about what political will means, what it means to let the Army, Air Force and Navy fight.”
Gandhi also reiterated his oft-repeated charge that the government has “destroyed” the single-most important goal of India’s foreign policy, which was to keep Pakistan and China separate. “The External Affairs Minister spoke in his speech yesterday about the two-front-war concept… I don’t know what he is talking about… There is now a unified front concept, where there is only one unified single front, and war is going to be held in multiple domains… So he does not even understand the basics of warfare.”
Referring to Jaishankar’s remarks that India cannot pick a fight with China because the latter was a bigger economy, Gandhi said: “It shows the complete bankruptcy of the foreign policy of this government. It means that he is scared. And this is the point, that we are now facing a Chinese-Pakistani fusion… We cannot afford a PM who does not have the courage to use the Army the way it has to be used.”
