New Delhi: The Congress Monday said that Operation Sindoor could not be considered a success until the terrorists behind the Pahalgam attack were caught or killed, adding that the country felt “cheated” by how US President Donald Trump announced the “ceasefire” between India and Pakistan.
The remarks came during a press conference at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi, where Congress general secretary Bhupesh Baghel was responding to the BJP’s claim that Operation Sindoor had “met its target 100 percent”.
In the evening, the party also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” after Trump reiterated Monday that the US had brokered the truce.
Reacting to the Prime Minister’s address to the nation, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X, “The PM’s much-delayed address to the nation was completely upstaged by President Trump’s revelations a few minutes earlier. The PM was completely silent on them. Has India agreed to US mediation? Has India agreed to a ‘neutral site’ for a dialogue with Pakistan?”
“Will India now give in on US demands for opening Indian markets in autos, agriculture, and other areas? We applaud and salute our armed forces unreservedly. They have done the country proud. We are 100 percent with them at all times. But the PM has still much to answer for.”
At the press conference earlier, Baghel reiterated the Congress’s demand that the Union government convene a special session of the Parliament and an all-party meeting to discuss the situation. Baghel also announced that Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had decided that the party would not attend any future all-party meeting from which Prime Minister Narendra Modi abstained.
“If it (Operation Sindoor) was successful, why don’t you convene a session of the Parliament and hold an all-party meeting?” Baghel asked.
“At Pahalgam, 26 people were killed. Four to five terrorists were said to have been involved. Have they been caught or killed? How will Operation Sindoor be considered successful unless those terrorists are caught? Also, who was responsible for the Pahalgam security lapses? After all, people went to Kashmir based on your (government) assurance.”
On 10 May, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, respectively, wrote to the PM, placing the “unanimous request of the Opposition” to convene a special session of Parliament to discuss the “Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor and today’s ceasefire, first announced by US President Trump”.
On Monday, another Congress general secretary, Randeep Singh Surjewala, also said that the “sudden halt” to India’s military action raises questions as it happened “when our Armed Forces had gained a clear upper hand over Pakistan”.
In the post on X, Surjewala said the ruling dispensation must answer whether it signed any “ceasefire agreement” as claimed by the US.
“Why is the Modi government permitting the US govt to equate India with Pakistan, despite the fully established fact that Pakistan is a ‘terror state’? Isn’t the Modi government aware that the US President, Mr Donald Trump has issued a statement expressing mediation to solve the Kashmir issue?”
“Is the Modi Government going to allow a third-party mediation in Kashmir in absolute derogation of India’s stated policy? If not, why has PM Modi not controverted the same?” Surjewala asked.
Surjewala was referring to Trump’s Truth Social post on 11 May that he will work with India and Pakistan “to see if, after a ‘thousand years,’ a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir”.
‘Internationalisation’ of dispute
At the press conference, the Congress further said that announcement from Washington amounted to the “internationalisation” of India’s dispute with Pakistan. The 1972 Simla agreement, said the party, precludes the involvement of any third party between the two neighbours.
हम सरकार से पारदर्शिता की मांग करते हैं।
• अमेरिका के राष्ट्रपति ने अचानक सीजफायर की घोषणा की, क्या यह भारत सरकार की कूटनीतिक नाकामी नहीं है?
• क्या भारत ने तीसरे पक्ष के हस्तक्षेप को स्वीकार कर लिया है?
• हमने सीजफायर में पाकिस्तान से क्या वादे लिए हैं, देश के लोगों को… pic.twitter.com/zlvJqF6JZn
— Congress (@INCIndia) May 12, 2025
“Has the Centre brought a change in our foreign policy? The sentiments of the people have been played with. The country is feeling cheated, betrayed and insulted by the way Trump made the announcement,” Baghel said. “Trump keeps on saying that the Kashmir problem dates back 1000 years. And the situation is such that we are not even refuting [him].”
The former Chhattisgarh chief minister claimed that the public mood, following the Pahalgam attack, was so charged with a desire for “revenge” that the Centre should have given the armed forces a free hand to “also capture Pakistan-occupied Kashmir”. Congress general secretary Sachin Pilot also said Sunday that time had come to reaffirm the 1994 unanimous resolution of the Indian Parliament to take back PoK.
“The PM was said to have been given a free hand to the armed forces. So when was it withdrawn?” Baghel said. He also accused the BJP of making efforts to use the valour of the armed forces to make political gains.
“The Congress stands fully with our armed forces. We have always given primacy to national interest whenever the country has been in any crisis. In 1971, Indira Gandhi did not bow down to US pressure and made Pakistan bite the dust. Even this time around, we took out Jai Hind Yatras across the country to unite people.”
“We backed the government. But when the country stood united, the BJP was busy politicising the issue,” he alleged.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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