Rahul Gandhi leads Lok Sabha blitz on Pakistan's role in Pahalgam carnage with big 'Sindoor' message
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Hans India
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Why is PM not denying Trump's claims?
New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is 'refusing to unequivocally' deny United States President Donald Trump's India-Pakistan ceasefire claims that have been made '30 times' as he is on a 'very weak wicket and has much to cover up'. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said PM Modi cannot state that Trump is lying about his role in bringing about a ceasefire between India and Pakistan as if he does so, the American leader will lay bare the truth. The Opposition party took a swipe at Modi after Trump repeated his claim about playing a role in bringing about a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, saying the American leader is coiled around the PM 'like a snake' and 'hissing bitter truths' into his ear. Asked about Trump's latest remarks repeating his claims and that India is preparing to face higher US tariffs between 20 and 25 per cent, Gandhi said, "It is obvious, the Prime Minister has not said that Trump is lying. It is obvious what has happened. Everyone knows, he is not able to say it. That is the reality." "If the Prime Minister says it then he (Trump) will say openly and will lay bear the truth so that is why the PM is not able to say anything," the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said. Gandhi said Trump is making the remarks to put pressure on the Indian government for the trade deal. "Now, you see what kind of trade deal happens," he told reporters in the Parliament House complex. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the PM doesn't have the guts to tell Trump that he is lying and it seems that 'daal mein kuch kala hai (there is something fishy)'. "Our policy has been that we have never accepted any sort of mediation by a third party in negotiations and it is unacceptable to us even today. Why did they agree, what were the reasons, they should tell the country," Kharge told reporters in the Parliament House complex. "He (Modi) did not even take Trump's name even once in his two-hour speech.
Indian Express
28 minutes ago
- Indian Express
In Op Sindoor debate, both Government and Opposition stopped low — but they flagged crucial issues
After a long time, Parliament came alive and voices of the people's representatives, across the political spectrum, rang out in the House with urgency and concern on a vital national issue. Ever since Operation Sindoor was carried out in the wake of the terror attack at Pahalgam, there have been unanswered questions. A fuller public debate was waiting to be joined, after the military dust settled. The deliberations in the Lok Sabha over two days broke a silence, filled a gap. At the same time, that the three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists who extinguished 26 lives on April 22 were killed in Dachigam in the Kashmir Valley on Monday in 'Operation Mahadev' brings a needed moment of closure for the families of the victims, and for the nation that shares their grief. Alongside the long-awaited debate in Parliament and the success in Dachigam, mention of The Resistance Front, a proxy outfit of LeT, which has claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, in a key UNSC report — the first mention of the LeT in the report since 2019 — brings a diplomatic victory for India. But while Parliament did well to discuss Operation Sindoor — what led to it, how it was conducted, and its aftermath — an overtly partisan and short-term politics also narrowed the scope of the debate in the House. Both the members of the government and Opposition spoke, but it did not always seem that they listened to each other. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi to paint the main Opposition party, Congress, as compromising national interest, and as the spokesman for the enemy, as it were, is unseemly. For him to then connect the dots from Congress's stance vis-à-vis Pakistan to its alleged 'tushtikaran' or appeasement of the minority at home is disquieting and uncalled for. As was Home Minister Amit Shah's reference to the 'dharm' of the terrorist. While BJP criticism of earlier Congress governments on national security is legitimate political thrust and parry, the debate on Operation Sindoor needs a common ground of respect and reciprocity, not labelling and name-calling. At the same time, Rahul Gandhi's challenge to the government — to lay Pakistan low once-and-for-all — was bellicose, and belonged more in a clumsy insta-reel than in the nation's highest forum of debate. His show-me-your-guts dare to the PM to call out US President Donald Trump for his claims of choreographing the India-Pak ceasefire was immature. Yet, the debate flagged crucial changes that will unfold and resonate in times to come. Rahul Gandhi may deny and dismiss it, but a 'new normal' has indeed been consecrated by Operation Sindoor, red lines have been redrawn by India vis-à-vis Pakistan. It is true that this recalibration may not always open up space for manoeuvre for Delhi, but may also limit it. India's challenge will be to ensure that it is not straitjacketed by the recast concept of deterrence. In a global environment where Trump has upended established patterns and certainties, and China is tilting the balance, India will have to move forward carefully, in its neighbourhood and beyond — calling Beijing and Washington names is neither diplomacy nor strategy. In that journey, Operation Sindoor constitutes an important milestone. The debate that has begun in Parliament must go on.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
MoS says peace returning in Manipur, Opp demands elections
Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed a statutory resolution approving extension of President's Rule in Manipur by another six months beyond August 13 even as Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said violence was on a decline in the state. The Opposition criticised the move, with Congress MP from Inner Manipur, Bimol Akoijam, demanding the state Assembly be dissolved. 'Let's have a fresh mandate and the rule of the people,' he said. SP's Lalji Verma called the extension 'a matter of concern' and TMC's Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar emphasised that President's rule was 'not the final solution of the problem'. Rai had moved the statutory resolution — it is moved in pursuance of a provision in the Constitution or an Act of Parliament — to extend President's Rule in Manipur for discussion in Lok Sabha. Speaker Om Birla said President's Rule was imposed in Manipur on February 13 and the House had approved it on April 2. The approval of the President's Rule by Parliament is valid for six months. When the Opposition questioned the move, Rai said, 'Peace is being restored there and not a single casualty has happened in the past four months… BJP believes in democracy, so President's Rule is necessary to restore law and order.' Rai said there was only 'one casualty' in the state in the past eight months. 'Law and order is under control and full efforts are being made to resolve the dispute between both the communities through dialogue and establish a permanent peace,' he said, adding that more than 2,500 weapons, more than 1,900 explosives and over 30,000 ammunition had been recovered during President's Rule. Rai said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's focus on the Northeast resulted in stability in the region. He said the PM had in the past 10 years visited the Northeast 'more than 78 times' which, he added, had led to its all-round development. Targeting the Opposition, Rai said: 'I assure, peace is getting restored there. You don't try to spread confusion.' Earlier, during a discussion on the resolution, Inner Manipur MP Akoijam said: 'Instead of introducing this and extending this almost illegitimate, in some sense morally, President's Rule in Manipur, we should have a fresh mandate in the state… Despite having a brutal majority you are not able to form the government. In collusion with that state government and Union government, you have created this tragedy of Manipur in past two years.' 'Please dissolve that Assembly, let's have a fresh mandate and the rule of the people, will of the state must have a say rather than dictating terms even if it's a small state,' he said. Samajwadi Party's Lalji Verma said 'it was a matter of concern that peace was not restored in Manipur even after six months of President's Rule'. 'As PM and Home Minister deliver speeches with arrogance, certainly that is the reason we are unable to conduct elections in Manipur… certainly this government is working with the objective of increasing its vote bank. They spread hatred because of which we are not able to conduct elections in a small state…' he said. TMC's Dastidar said: 'Prime Minister should have visited (Manipur) and helped in resolving the issue. We want an elected government there.' Lalmani is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, and is based in New Delhi. He covers politics of the Hindi Heartland, tracking BJP, Samajwadi Party, BSP, RLD and other parties based in UP, Bihar and Uttarakhand. Covered the Lok Sabha elections of 2014, 2019 and 2024; Assembly polls of 2012, 2017 and 2022 in UP along with government affairs in UP and Uttarakhand. ... Read More
