
Stop ‘undermining' armed forces' valour, ‘jeopardising' India's security: BJP to Rahul on Op Sindoor
'Rahul Gandhi, you decide which side you are on. You have to decide whether you are India's leader of opposition or Pakistan's Nishan-e-Pakistan,' Bhatia said at a press conference.
Calling Gandhi 'Nishan-e-Pakistan', BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia accused the Congress leader of carrying forward the 'agenda of countries inimical to India' and said his remarks on the India-Pakistan conflict were being used by Islamabad to 'defame' India.
New Delhi, May 23 (PTI) The BJP on Friday launched a scathing attack at Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and asked him to stop 'undermining' the Indian Armed Forces' valour and 'jeopardising' the country's security by making 'irresponsible remarks' about Operation Sindoor.
The BJP's charge came a day after Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having 'compromised' India's 'prestige' and asked him why he sacrificed the nation's interests by agreeing to halt military hostilities against Pakistan.
'Rahul Gandhi, stop undermining the valour and commitment of our brave armed forces, stop asking questions which shouldn't be asked. They jeopardise national security,' Bhatia urged the Congress leader.
He said Gandhi's remarks could not be dismissed as 'juvenile behaviour'.
'It has been the core character of Rahul Gandhi to intentionally ask such questions, taking forward the agenda of nations which are inimical to our country,' he alleged.
The BJP spokesperson also lashed out at Gandhi over his remarks that India's foreign policy had 'collapsed' and asked him if the joint statement of then prime minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Syed Yusuf Raza in Sharm el Sheikh after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack that Pakistan was also a victim terror was the Congress' diplomacy.
Terming the Sharm el Sheikh joint statement as 'irresponsible behaviour' of the erstwhile Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Bhatia said it was made against the 'established policy' of India and asked Gandhi if he had forgotten it.
'Rahul Gandhi, in his own eyes, feels that he is the best diplomat that the world has ever seen. But in the eyes of Indian citizens, he doesn't even know the 'D' of diplomacy. He is acting like an enemy of our country,' the BJP spokesperson charged.
Gandhi on Friday claimed that India's foreign policy had 'collapsed' and asked External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to explain why India was hyphenated with Pakistan and who asked US President Donald Trump to 'mediate' between the two South Asian neighbours.
Bhatia slammed Gandhi and the Congress for making 'irresponsible and immature statements' on the Operation Sindoor, describing them as 'far from truth', and said it had become their character.
At a time Operation Sindoor is underway, Rahul Gandhi is making 'careless statements' and asking the Indian Air Force how many fighter planes were shot down during the operation even though Air Marshal Awadhesh Kumar Bharti, while replying to a related a media query earlier, had said it was not prudent to answer such a question during a combat scenario, he said.
'Rahul Gandhi, your basic character is anti-India and one that breaks the morale of the country's armed forces,' he charged. 'Why did you start hating the country while hating Prime Minister Modi?' Bhatia alleged that the Congress and Gandhi were 'betraying' India by repeatedly asking such questions and seeking information from the government and the armed forces when Operation Sindoor was still underway.
'Is it not a conspiracy against India? Shouldn't a leader of opposition know when to ask what kind of question? he asked. PTI PK PK SZM SZM
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hindustan Times
21 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Nearly 300 illegal Bangladeshis pushed back from Assam, says CM Himanta Sarma
GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday that his government has pushed back nearly 300 illegal Bangladeshis to the neighbouring country in the past few months. Addressing a one-day special session of the state assembly, Sarma said that the process to push them back will continue as per provisions of a 1950 law to identify and evict illegal foreigners. 'We will adopt two roads to deal with illegal foreigners. One is to take their cases to foreigners tribunals and the other to use provisions of the Immigrants (Expulsion from Assam) Act, 1950,' Sarma said. 'We have pushed back almost 300 people till now and none of them have returned. This process will be intensified and way fundamentalist elements from Bangladesh have taken roots in Assam, the government needs to be more active and proactive in this regard,' he added. Sarma stated that his government has decided to enforce provisions of the 1950 Act into action and empower district commissioners to identify and push back illegal Bangladeshis without referring to the foreigners tribunals. Assam has 100 such tribunals where people deemed to be illegal foreigners and who have entered the state after March 25, 2025 (the deadline set to identify illegal immigrants in the state) are referred to and their cases heard. Once they are declared as foreigners by these tribunals they are sent to detention centres set up for such illegal foreigners. They have the option of appealing their cases in higher courts with proper documents. In recent weeks, following directives from the union home ministry, several state governments, especially those ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have started drives to detect illegal Bangladeshis and initiate a process to deport them. Many such people, who are allegedly illegal Bangladeshis, have been pushed back to the no man's land between India and Bangladesh through the borders in Assam, Tripura and West Bengal. Last week, Bangladesh had refused to accept 14 such people from Assam, who were again sent back.


The Hindu
23 minutes ago
- The Hindu
LDF, UDF continue blame game over boy's tragic death
The tragic electrocution of 15-year-old Ananthu from an illegal electric trap set for wild boars at Vazhikkadavu dominated the Nilambur Assembly byelection campaign for the second consecutive day on Monday with the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) taking out protest marches to different centres. In a bid to gain political mileage from the tragedy, both of them blamed each other for the tragic accident. The LDF staged a protest outside the Vazhikkadavu panchayat office, while the UDF organised a march to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) office at Vazhikkadavu, each trying to pin the responsibility on the other. The UDF pointed fingers at the KSEB, arguing that it was its responsibility to prevent power theft for illegal activities such as electric trapping of wild boars. The LDF countered that the onus lay with the local body. The blame game intensified with the UDF targeting the LDF-led State government and its agencies while the LDF targeted the UDF-ruled local body. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member A. Vijayaraghavan, inaugurating the LDF march, attributed the incident to the failure of the Vazhikkadavu panchayat administration, stating that it had not implemented the existing protocol to cull wild animals causing crop damage. Mr. Vijayaraghavan accused the panchayat of colluding with those involved in illegally hunting wild boars. He said the UDF's efforts to make political capital out of the tragedy had boomeranged. K. Radhakrishnan, MP, CPI leader Satyan Mokeri, Alice Mathew, M.M. Varghese, V.P. Sanu, E. Jayan, T.M. Siddique, Jamsheer K., and M.T. Ali spoke. Inaugurating the UDF march, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the incident exposed the negligence of government departments. 'Ananthu's family and several other local residents had complained to the KSEB and the Forest department about the electricity theft for hunting wild animals, but no action was taken. It is a clear case of government negligence,' he said. Mr. Satheesan lashed out at the government for its inaction. 'The LDF's march to the panchayat office is a farce. The government does not provide funds for culling wild boars. Instead of blaming the panchayat, the LDF should protest outside the offices of the Forest and Electricity Ministers,' he said. UDF panchayat chairman Saidalavi Valassery presided over the function. A.K.M. Ashraf, Anvar Sadath, MLAs, Congress district president V.S. Joy and Muslim League leader K.M. Shaji spoke.


News18
23 minutes ago
- News18
QRSAM Air Defence System To Bolster India's Frontline, Nod Expected Soon: Report
Last Updated: The Indian Army may soon acquire a new indigenous QRSAM system, costing Rs 30,000 crore, for deployment along western and northern borders The Indian Army may soon get a new indigenous surface-to-air missile system. The development comes at a time when Indian air defence systems are making headlines for successfully bringing down missile and drone attacks launched by Pakistan in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. The proposal, which would cost Rs 30,000 crore, is scheduled to be taken by the Ministry of Defence for buying three regiments of the home-grown Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile system (QRSAM) for deployment along both western and northern borders, news agency ANI reported. The meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) is planned to be held around the fourth week of June. The QRSAM, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is configured on highly mobile platforms and is capable of providing air defence on the move. QRSAM Features The Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile (QRSAM) is a short-range air defence system developed to safeguard moving armoured columns from aerial threats. With an operational range of approximately 30 km, it complements existing systems like the Akash and MRSAM in the short-to-medium range category. QRSAM is equipped with capabilities for surveillance and tracking while on the move and can engage targets during brief halts. It features an active phased array surveillance radar with a detection range of up to 120 km and a tracking radar effective up to 80 km, integrated with Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) technology. The system is designed for multi-target engagement and can counter threats from aircraft, hovering helicopters, UAVs, and other airborne targets. Indian forces had not deployed air defence systems and missiles in active operations since the Kargil War. However, this changed following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives, when India launched BrahMos missiles to strike terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). First Published: June 09, 2025, 20:31 IST