India’s four-day war with Pakistan in May, which left over 70 people dead, continues to stir political unrest in New Delhi. The brief but intense conflict, triggered by an April attack on Hindu tourists in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), has led to serious accusations from opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, who has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of orchestrating the military operation for image management.
India quickly blamed Pakistan for the attack in Pahalgam, which killed 26 people, but failed to provide any evidence. Pakistan denied any involvement.
Speaking during a fiery parliamentary debate on Tuesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the Modi administration for how Operation Sindoor was handled.
Quoting Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Gandhi said, “Rajnath Singh stated that Operation Sindoor began at 1:05 AM and ended in just 22 minutes. The most shocking part came when he said that at 1:35 AM, India called Pakistan to inform them we had only targeted non-military sites and did not want the situation to escalate.”
According to Gandhi, this shows that Indian leadership had no real intent to follow through with a strong military message.
“The DGMO was instructed by the government to request a ceasefire just thirty minutes after the operation began. This is not strategy, it is surrender,” he said.
Gandhi alleged that the goal of the operation was not national security, but the prime minister’s personal image.
“The prime minister has the blood of Pahalgam’s people on his hands. This was about using the Air Force to protect his public image, not to protect the country,”
Gandhi also took aim at Modi’s refusal to acknowledge Trump’s claims of mediation.
“If Trump is lying, then the prime minister should say so publicly. If he has the courage, like Indira Gandhi did, he should say, ‘Donald Trump, you are a liar,’” he challenged.
Trump has consistently maintained that his intervention prevented the situation from spiraling into a full-scale war. During a recent trip to Scotland, he said, “If I weren’t around, you would have six major wars right now. India would be fighting Pakistan.”
Despite Trump’s claims, Modi told Parliament that no world leader asked India to stop the military operation. He avoided mentioning Trump by name but insisted that it was Pakistan who requested a ceasefire after feeling the pressure from Indian attacks.
He accused the Modi government of failing diplomatically while pretending to be strong militarily.
“While these people were claiming to have deterred Pakistan, General Asim Munir was having lunch with the president of the United States. Our prime minister is not even able to set foot there,” he said.
He further pointed to a Central and South Asia defence meeting held in Pakistan with participation from the United States and four Central Asian countries, saying this reflected a growing alignment between China and Pakistan. “India’s most important foreign policy challenge was to keep China and Pakistan apart. Now, they are united militarily,” Gandhi warned.
Mocking the government’s declared doctrine that any act of terrorism will be treated as an act of war, Gandhi said, “You have handed over the power to terrorists. One attack and India will declare war? That is not deterrence, that is recklessness.”
He concluded his remarks by saying India needs a prime minister who understands how and when to use military force. “We need a leader who can command the army and the air force properly, not someone who uses them to manage their image. We need leadership like Indira Gandhi’s, not what we have today,” he said.
