Modi Using Forces for Image: RaGa

Rahul Gandhi accused the government of having a failed diplomacy as none of the countries that condemned the terror attack in Pahalgam criticised Pakistan for it. (Image: X)

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

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Mr Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Congress Member of Parliament Mrs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the government for lapse of security and failure of intelligence while putting the blame on 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 Lok Sabha, Mr Gandhi charged him of 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 not having a political will and succumbing to the pressure from the United States of America to call off the military operations mid-way. He alleged that PM Modi was using armed forces to protect his image after the Pahalgam attack.

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

Gandhi also accused the government of having a failed diplomacy as none of the countries that condemned the terror attack in Pahalgam criticised Pakistan for it. Instead, Pak Army Chief Gen Asim Munir is being honoured with an invitation on 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.

Trump has broken all protocol and inviting the man who committed terrorism in India…. the POTUS said he invited Munir to thank him for not escalating the war,” 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 out and give real time information through satellite on India’s strategic locations and preparedness.

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

“Rajnath Singhji 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 government.

He cited remarks by Defence Attache in Indonesia, Group Captain Shiv Kumar, to claim that there were constraints by the political leadership to not attack the Pakistani military establishment and their air defences.

Rahul Gandhi also referred to a statement of 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’,”

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 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, 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 Prime Minister Modi would repeatedly claim that Kashmir was completely peaceful and people should visit there and buy properties. “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 PM claims credit for every achievement, even someone winning Olympic medals, he should take responsibility for the failures also.

Referring to the 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 Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s tears during 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 the 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”.