Rahul Gandhi points to new China-Pakistan axis, blames govt for jet losses

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of having conducted Operation Sindoor without political will and by tying the Indian forces' hands and alleged that the sole aim of the military action against Pakistan was to "protect the image of the PM" after the Pahalgam killings. Gandhi alleged that the Modi government's policy short-sight led to a "dangerous Pakistan-China military fusion" and challenged the prime minister to show "half of Indira Gandhi's courage" to state in Parliament that India didn't lose any aircraft during the conflict with Pakistan and that President Trump didn't force the ceasefire.

In an aggressive speech in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi built his case by citing Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's remark that after hitting the terror camps in Pakistan right at the beginning of Operation Sindoor, the Indian side had informed Pakistan of the hit and assured that it had no intention of escalating by targeting Pakistan's military assets.

"Maybe he (Rajnath Singh) didn't understand what he revealed. The DGMO of India was told by the Government of India to ask for a ceasefire at 1.35 am itself on the night of Operation Sindoor...You told Pakistan you do not have the political will to fight," he said.


He said the constraint put on the Indian forces led to the loss of IAF aircraft. "Rajnath Ji also said that we told the Pakistanis that we are not going to hit any of their military infrastructure...It meant that our Air Force was not given operational freedom, the freedom of manoeuvre... Captain Shiv Kumar, defence attache in Indonesia, said India lost so many aircraft, but I do not agree with that, but we did lose some aircraft. That happened because of the constraint given by the political leadership to not attack the military establishment and their air defence," Gandhi said.

While accusing PM Modi of lacking political will and not giving a free hand to the Indian forces, Gandhi contrasted it with PM Indira Gandhi's conduct during the 1971 war. "I would like to remind him (Rajnath SIngh) that there was political will in 1971. The Seventh Fleet was approaching India. The then PM Indira Gandhi said we will have to do whatever we have to to liberate Bangladesh, come what may. When General Manekshaw asked for more time to start the war, Indira Gandhi told him 'take six months, one year, whatever time you need because you should have freedom of action, of manoeuvre. So, one lakh Pakistani soldiers surrendered and a new country was formed".