Narendra Modi ‘failed' to answer questions on Pahalgam, Trump in Lok Sabha: Opposition - ‘typical Nehru bashing'
In his address replying to the debate, PM Narendra Modi affirmed that no leader of any country had asked India to stop Operation Sindoor, which was still giving "sleepless nights" to the masterminds of the Pahalgam attack.
Modi, in doing so, rebutted President Trump's repeated claims of mediating a 'ceasefire' after four days of military action during Operation Sindoor in May this year in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. Narendra Modi said he had, in fact, told US Vice President JD Vance on the night of May 9 that Pakistan will pay dearly for any attack on India.
Soon after Modi's 100-minute-long speech in Lok Sabha, President Trump repeated his claim, calling India his 'friend'
"Yeah, I think so. India is my friend. They ended the war with Pakistan at my request...The deal with India is not finalised. India has been a good friend, but India has charged basically more tariffs than almost any other country," Trump said when asked by reporters aboard Air Force One if India is going to pay high tariffs, between 20-25 per cent.
Opposition leaders, however, said that the prime minister did not categorically deny Trump's claim of brokering peace between India and Pakistan. Congress leader Pawan Khera said they haven't received a single answer.
"We were asking for a discussion because both we and the country wanted answers. We haven't got a single answer," Khera told PTI Videos.
"Simple question is how did Pahalgam happen, how did the terrorists manage to get into India, and attack our civilians, our tourists. No answers," he said.
"Why did the announcement of ceasefire come from America? That's a question we haven't got an answer for," Khera said.
Samajwadi Party chief and Lok Sabha MP Akhilesh Yadav, in an apparent reference to China, said the Indian government could not see the real threat, even though he did not name the country. In his earlier speech in Lok Sabha, Yadav had compared China's 'threat to India'to any threat of terrorism.
"They are not able to see the real threat, who is standing behind Pakistan. If they can't see the real threat despite being in the government, what can be done..." the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh said.
Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose said the speech was "theatrical", but failed to answer questions. "Typically theatrical speech by the prime minister. He failed to answer the questions of the Opposition. First question about the intelligence and security failure that led to the terror attack in Pahalgam," Ghose said.
"Second, why is it that India's diplomatic outreach failed to achieve the desired results? Third, why has President Trump repeatedly taken the credit for the India-Pakistan ceasefire, and linked it to commerce, to trade deal," she said.
Ghose said the prime minister failed to answer these questions. "All we had was typical theatre and drama, and typical Nehru bashing," she said.
She also said that PM Narenda Modi should publicly say that President Trump is "not telling the truth". "The prime minister has failed to counter President Trump," she said.
Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said PM Modi tried to take the whole credit for Operation Sindoor.
"Prime Minister Modi, in his two-hour speech, tried to take full credit for Operation Sindoor. At the beginning of the speech, he said that the people of the country supported him. He is wrong, people of the country fully supported the government and the Indian Army," he said, adding that the prime minister did not mention China even once in his speech.
Congress MP KC Venugopal said there was nothing new in what the prime minister said. "What Amit Shah said today morning is repeated by the prime minister. There was nothing else," he said.
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