"If PM Modi has courage of Indira Gandhi, let him say Donald Trump is a liar": Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha

Time of India

6 days ago

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Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament over his silence on US President Donald Trump's claims of having brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.Participating in the debate on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi said, "Donald Trump has said 29 times that he brokered ceasefire. If he is lying, then the PM should say this in the House that Trump is lying. If he has the courage of Indira Gandhi, let him say here that Donald Trump is a liar. And we didn't lose any planes. If he has even 50 per cent courage of Indira Gandhi."The Congress MP also criticised India's foreign policy stance following the Pahalgam terror attack and questioned the External Affairs Minister's use of the term "new normal"."One new word has come - 'new normal'. EAM use this word frequently. He said in speeches that countries have condemned terrorism, absolutely, but he didn't tell that after Pahalgam, not a single country condemned Pakistan. It means the world is equating us with Pakistan. Earlier, during the UPA government, it was clear that Pakistan was promoting terrorism, and they used to condemn Pakistan," Rahul Gandhi said.Rahul Gandhi also referred to Pakistan's Army Chief General Asim Munir's recent visit to the United States, where he was invited for lunch with US President Donald Trump."EAM says we have deterred Pakistan. The man behind Pahalgam is General Munir. That man is having lunch with US President Trump... The new normal is Gen Munir having lunch with President Trump... Another new normal - at the end of the exercise (Op Sindoor), the GOI said any act of terror is an act of war... It's craziness. You have taken the entire idea of deterrence and turned it down. What will you do if the next terror attack happens?" the Lok Sabha LoP stated.The Congress MP further claimed that India lost five fighter jets during the operation due to "political constraints" imposed on the armed forces.Citing remarks of Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan and Captain Shiv Kumar, India's Defence Attache in Indonesia, the LoP said, "Second thing he (Defence Minister) said - He told the Pakistanis that we are not going to hit any of your military infrastructure. This is an interesting fact. I said freedom of manoeuvre, meaning freedom to the air force. Captain Shiv Kumar, Defence Attache, Indonesia, he says - I may not agree with him that India lost so many aircraft, but I do agree we did lose some aircraft, that happened only because of the constraints given by the political leadership to not attack the military establishments and their air defence.""It means - You went into Pakistan and told our pilots do not attack their air defence systems. It means you told your pilots to go and attack Pakistan and face their air defence system. It means you tied their hands behind their back. The point is, aircraft were lost. It means you started and said you do not have political will and you won't attack military establishments and then asked the pilots to fights. Everybody knows the result; you do not want to give answers but everybody knows the result..." Gandhi asserted.Gandhi also cited remarks made by Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Capability Development and Sustenance), suggesting that Pakistan had real-time intelligence from China during DGMO-level talks.The LoP said, "I want to say to CDS General Anil Chauhan ji, you made no tactical mistake, the Indian air force made no mistake, the mistake was made by the political leadership that said you cannot attack the military infrastructure. The air force is not to blame at all."Referring to the remarks Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, the Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Capability Development and Sustenance), the Congress MP said, "Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, during an event on May 11th, said that when the DGMO-level talks were going on, Pakistan actually mentioned that we know that such and such an important vector is primed and ready for action. I would request you to perhaps pull it back. And he says so, it is very clear they were getting live battlefield inputs from China... If you had listened to me here, you would not have lost those 5 planes. If you have listened that Chinese and Pakistanis have fused..."Reiterating the opposition's support during the operation, Gandhi said the INDIA bloc had backed both the armed forces and the government from the outset."A brutal and heartless attack organised and orchestrated clearly by the Pakiststate. Young people and old people murdered mercilessly. Together, every single person in this house condemned Pakistan. The moment Op Sindoor began, in fact before it began, the opposition committed itself that we will stand like a rock with forces and elected government of India. We heard the odd jibe, the sarcastic remarks from some of their leaders, but we said absolutely nothing. This was something that was agreed among all senior leadership of the INDIA alliance. We are very proud that as an opposition we stood united as we should," he said.The LoP also shared emotional accounts from his meetings with families of victims of the Pahalgam attack."After Pahalgam, I went to Narwal Ji's home, which was in Karnal, his son was in the Navy, and he himself was in the CRPF. I felt like I was sitting with my own family. He showed me his son's photographic album and told about him. In one way, he told me about his family... After that, in Uttar Pradesh, I met another family, and terrorists killed a husband in front of his wife. It is painful and saddening. Whatever happened was wrong, everybody condemned it..." he said.