Call Trump a Liar, Rahul Dares Modi

New Delhi: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the government for the lapse of security and failure of intelligence, while blaming the top leadership for the attack on tourists in Pahalgam on April 22.

In an all-out attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking during the discussion on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi charged him with not giving a free hand to the armed forces to carry out larger attacks on Pakistan and destroy its important military establishments.

He also accused the Indian government of lacking political will and succumbing to pressure from the United States of America to call off the military operations midway. He alleged that Modi was using the armed forces to protect his image after the Pahalgam attack.

“US President Donald Trump said 29 times that he brought about the India-Pak ceasefire. If he is lying, the PM must say so in the Lok Sabha. If Modi has even 50 per cent of the courage that Indira Gandhi had, he must come here and say that Trump is a 'liar' and that we did not lose any planes,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi also accused the government of failed diplomacy. While the countries that condemned the terror attack in Pahalgam, they did not criticise Pakistan for it. Instead, Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir was honoured with an invitation to the lunch table with Trump.

“On one side, you are sending teams and telling the world that Pakistan is carrying out terrorism; here, the US President is having lunch with Asim Munir, the mind behind Pahalgam. Mr Trump has broken all protocol by inviting the man who committed terrorism in India... the POTUS said he invited Munir to thank him for not escalating the war," Rahul Gandhi said.

He further said that the government failed to read the entwined relationship between Pakistan and China, as the latter had embedded its pilots and strategic teams in Pak forces to help it and provide real-time information through satellite on India’s strategic locations and preparedness.

“If the government had listened to my statement in the Lok Sabha a few months ago on China and Pakistan fusing together, they would not have lost five aircraft during Operation Sindoor,” Rahul Gandhi said.

“Rajnath Singh ji said that Operation Sindoor began at 1.05 in the morning and lasted for 22 minutes. He said a very shocking thing: that at 1.35, we called Pakistan and told them that we had hit non-military targets and we didn't want escalation. These are the words of the Defence Minister of India. You told Pakistan exactly what you would do: that you would not target military establishments and you didn't want escalation. That's surrender. Immediate surrender in 30 minutes," Rahul Gandhi said, slamming the BJP-led NDA government.

He cited remarks by Defence Attaché in Indonesia, Group Captain Shiv Kumar, to claim that there were constraints by the political leadership not to attack the Pakistani military establishment and their air defences. Rahul Gandhi also referred to a statement by Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, who said in an interview that India rectified its tactics and hit deep inside Pakistani territory after suffering losses during Operation Sindoor.

"The Indian Air Force made no mistake, but the mistake was committed by the political leadership — that 'you cannot attack military infrastructure' — and CDS Anil Chauhan must say 'my hands were tied, so the Air Force is not to be blamed at all'," Rahul Gandhi said.

Earlier, Priyanka Gandhi also targeted the government, accusing it of security and diplomatic failure, and asked why the PM and Home Minister were not owning responsibility. She said that, being a victim of terrorism, she feels the pain of victims' families.

She asked why the tourists were left like sitting ducks in the Baisaran valley and pointed out that Mr Amit Shah had gone to Kashmir valley just two weeks before the terror attack and said that terrorism had been eradicated in the valley.

Priyanka Gandhi pointed out that even the Prime Minister would repeatedly claim that Kashmir was completely peaceful and that people should visit and buy properties there. “But the same Prime Minister and the home minister failed to provide safety and security to the people who went to Pahalgam. Whose responsibility is this? Isn’t it the responsibility of the Prime Minister and the home minister?”

Responding to Amit Shah’s references to the Mumbai terror attack, which took place in 2008 during the Congress-led UPA regime, she said all the terrorists except one were killed on the spot, while the one caught alive was hanged later. She said the Maharashtra Chief Minister resigned taking responsibility, and so did the then Union home minister.

Priyanka further said that just as the Prime Minister claims credit for every achievement — even someone winning Olympic medals — he should take responsibility for the failures also.

Referring to Operation Sindoor, she said it has happened for the first time in history that the ceasefire was not announced by the government of India but by the President of the United States, which was a grave diplomatic failure for the country.

Responding sharply to Shah’s taunt about her mother Sonia Gandhi’s tears during the Batla House encounter in Delhi in September 2008, Priyanka said, “My mother’s tears rolled down when her husband was assassinated by terrorists when she was only 44 years old. If I am talking today about the victims of terrorism, it is because I can understand their pain.”

While mentioning the names of the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack, she sharply rebuffed the treasury benches when they asked her who they were, telling them sharply, “They were Indians.”