"This Government Clueless About What Deterrence Means": Rahul Gandhi

Hitting out at the government for its handling of Operation Sindoor, which was India's response to the Pahalgam terror attack, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has said the government lacked the political will to fight Pakistan and, because of that, asked the armed forces to attack with their hands tied behind their backs. 

Asking why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not calling US President Donald Trump a liar despite him repeatedly claiming that he had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, the Congress MP also said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had erred by comparing Operation Sindoor with the 1971 war between the two countries. 

The Centre, he said, does not understand what deterrence means and had dug a hole for itself by saying it would attack Pakistan every time there was a terror attack in India. 

Beginning his speech during the debate on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Mr Gandhi extended his condolences to those who were killed in the Pahalgam attack and said the opposition INDIA bloc decided, as one unit, to back the forces and the government.

Bringing up Defence Minister Singh's speech, the Congress MP said that to use the Army, Navy and Air Force, two things need to exist - political will and freedom of operation and manoeuvre for the armed forces. 

"In his speech, the defence minister compared Operation Sindoor and the 1971 war. I want to remind him, there was political will in 1971. The 7th fleet (of the United States) was in the Indian Ocean and (then PM) Indira Gandhi said we will do what we need to in Bangladesh. That's political will. There was no confusion. The superpower was coming with its aircraft carrier and hundreds of aircraft, but the Prime Minister said 'we don't care, come, we will do what we need to'," he said. 

Then Army chief Sam Manekshaw had asked for six months to begin the operation, he said, and Indira Gandhi asked him to take all the time he needed so that the forces got the freedom of action and manoeuvre. This, Mr Gandhi said, led to the surrender of over 1 lakh Pakistani soldiers and the creation of a new country in the form of Bangladesh. 

'No Escalation'

Mr Gandhi pointed out that Defence Minister Singh had told Parliament that Operation Sindoor began at 1.05 am on May 7 and the targeted attacks on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir were completed in 22 minutes. The defence minister, he alleged, then telegraphed to Pakistan that the government did not have the political will to fight.

"The defence minister said the most shocking thing. He said that, at 1.35 am, we called Pakistan and told them we have hit non-military targets and don't want an escalation. Maybe he doesn't understand what he revealed. The DGMO (Director General of Military Operations) was told by the Centre to ask for a ceasefire at 1.35 am that very night. You told the Pakistanis exactly what you would do, that you would not hit military targets. You told them directly that you don't have the political will to fight. It's like you are telling them, 'We have slapped you, but we won't slap you further'," Mr Gandhi said.

The Congress MP pointed out that India's defence attache in Indonesia, Captain Shiv Kumar had said India had lost some aircraft during Operation Sindoor because "of the constraint given by the political leadership to not attack their military infrastructure and their air defence".

"So you went into Pakistan and you told our pilots not to attack their air defence systems. This means you tied their hands behind their backs... So what will happen? Aircraft will be shot down... The Chief of Defence Staff said the Indian Air Force learned from mistakes and rectified them. I want to tell him: you and the IAF made no mistakes, they were made by the political leadership, which said you cannot attack the military infrastructure and the air defence systems," Mr Gandhi claimed. 

Trump Lying?

The Leader of the Opposition said US President Trump had claimed 29 times that he got India and Pakistan to agree to a ceasefire.

"If he is lying, PM Modi should tell Parliament in his speech today that he is lying... the government says every nation has condemned terrorism. What it doesn't say is that no nation condemned Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack, everybody condemned terrorism. They say we have deterred Pakistan. But the man behind the Pahalgam attack, their army chief General Asim Munir, had lunch with President Trump, breaking all protocol," Mr Gandhi said.

Mr Trump, he said, had then thanked General Munir for playing a role in ending the India-Pakistan conflict after Operation Sindoor.

"The government of India has said every act of terror is an act of war. This means that any terrorist who wants India to fight a war just has to carry out an attack. They have given the entire power to terrorists. You have taken the entire idea of deterrence and turned it upside down. What will you do when the next terror attack happens... This government is clueless about what deterrence means," Mr Gandhi said.