New Delhi: The Congress Monday launched a fresh attack on External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, alleging that he “committed treason” by acting as an “informant” for Pakistan. The party cited his remarks that New Delhi sent a “message” to Islamabad at the “start” of Operation Sindoor that it would target only its terrorist infrastructure and not the military.
Jaishankar is the latest in a long line of Bharatiya Janata Party leaders who have acted similarly in the past, the Congress said, claiming that former prime minister Morarji Desai belonged to the same category. Desai, a prominent Congress leader until his fallout with Indira Gandhi, was the first non-Congress prime minister of India as part of the Janata alliance, which later became the Janata Party, in 1977.
Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who had levelled these allegations against Jaishankar Saturday, targeted the minister again Monday.
“EAM Jaishankar’s silence isn’t just telling—it’s damning. So I’ll ask again: How many Indian aircraft did we lose because Pakistan knew? This wasn’t a lapse. It was a crime. And the nation deserves the truth,” Gandhi posted on X, minutes ahead of the Congress’s press conference on the issue.
EAM Jaishankar’s silence isn’t just telling — it’s damning.
So I’ll ask again: How many Indian aircraft did we lose because Pakistan knew?
This wasn’t a lapse. It was a crime. And the nation deserves the truth. https://t.co/izn4LmBGJZ
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 19, 2025
Congress media and publicity department chairperson Pawan Khera, who addressed a press conference at the party’s Akbar Road office Monday, said that the “silence” of Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that Washington brokered the India-Pakistan truce suggest that the “US holds certain secrets” about them.
Khera also dismissed the government’s denials about Jaishankar “alerting” Pakistan of India’s objectives at the start of Operation Sindoor.
“The entire world heard what Jaishankar said. There cannot be any other interpretation of his remarks. We forewarned Pakistan. He has been a diplomat. Is this diplomacy? Sorry, this is not diplomacy but espionage and treason. This could have helped terrorists like Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed flee to safety,” Khera said.
Interacting with media persons last Thursday, Jaishankar had said, “We achieved the goals which we set out to do by destroying the terrorist infrastructure in Bahawalpur and Muridke, Muzaffarabad and other places. Since the key goals were achieved, I think we reasonably took the position, because even at the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan, saying we are striking at terrorist infrastructure, we are not striking at the military, so the military has an option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice.”
The Congress has been targeting Jaishankar over these remarks, suggesting that it was an implicit admission that the Centre had alerted Pakistan about its military objectives ahead of Operation Sindoor.
On Saturday, the Ministry of External Affairs had responded to the allegation, calling it a misrepresentation of facts. “External Affairs Minister had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Op Sindoor’s commencement. This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out,” the ministry had said.
However, through fresh attacks Monday, the Congress made it clear that it would not back down from its charges.
“They have a history of such espionage involving Pakistan. Turn back the pages of history and consider what Morarji Desai, who was made the PM by the Janata Party and Jana Sangh, did. Recorded history shows that on a telephone call with (Pakistan’s military dictator) Zia Ul Haq, Desai had passed on information on RAW’s infrastructure in Pakistan. That was the undoing of decades of work,” said Khera. “The same Desai was conferred with Nishan-e-Pakistan, the highest civilian award of the country. What he did was a sin, a crime. What Jaishankar did is also a sin. And the PM’s silence is a sin as well.”
Responding to Gandhi’s X post on Jaishankar, Amit Malviya, the in-charge of BJP’s National Information and Technology Department, accused the opposition leader of “distorting facts” and “speaking the language of Pakistan”.
Rahul Gandhi’s daftness is not merely incidental—it is sinister. He is speaking the language of Pakistan.
For the benefit of India, and to expose the intent of the Leader of the Opposition, I am reposting the statement of DGMO Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, dated 11.05.2025:… https://t.co/NBqHRPvdLR pic.twitter.com/UeJ5vj1vzV
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) May 19, 2025
“For the benefit of India, and to expose the intent of the Leader of the Opposition, I am reposting the statement of DGMO Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, dated 11.05.2025: ‘…Even though we did attempt to reach out and communicate our compulsions to strike at the heart of terror to my counterpart in the immediate wake of Operation Sindoor, the request was brusquely turned down, with an intimation that a severe response was inevitable and in the offing. We were, of course, prepared…’ Let me repeat: This aligns exactly with EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar’s statement—that India had issued a warning to Pakistan during the early phase of Operation Sindoor. It is now being deliberately misrepresented as if the warning came before the operation began,” Malviya posted on X.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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