🇮🇳 India: Operation Sindoor Sparks Political Clash
A recent episode of News Today delves into the escalating political tensions between the Congress and BJP over Operation Sindoor. Rahul Gandhi has reiterated claims that the government remained silent over asset losses during the operation. In response, Congress leader Pawan Khera labeled the BJP as "Sindoor ka saudagar," referencing a video of External Affairs Minister Jaishankar. The BJP has countered with sharp criticism of Gandhi and the Congress party.
India Today
A recent episode of News Today delves into the escalating political tensions between the Congress and BJP over Operation Sindoor. Rahul Gandhi has reiterated claims that the government remained silent over asset losses during the operation. In response, Congress leader Pawan Khera labeled the BJP as "Sindoor ka saudagar," referencing a video of External Affairs Minister Jaishankar. The BJP has countered with sharp criticism of Gandhi and the Congress party.
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00:00...off now in this political war over Operation Sindhuur.
00:04Is the BJP versus Congress slugfest soon to become an embarrassment?
00:08Should the opposition not ask questions of the Modi government?
00:12Is Rahul Gandhi in sync with the rest of his party?
00:15Just some of the questions I want to raise.
00:16Thuheen Sinha is spokesperson BJP and Salman Sos, spokesperson Congress.
00:21Today an old-style face-off between two political spokespersons.
00:25Salman Sos, to you first.
00:27The fact is that before Operation Sindhuur was launched,
00:31the Congress made it clear, whatever you do, we are fully with you.
00:36The moment the operation is over, the Congress is looking to find almost on a daily basis
00:41what they believe has gone wrong with the operation,
00:44rather than even have a single statement to suggest that maybe some things have gone right.
00:50What has gone wrong for the Congress suddenly, day after day, Rahul Gandhi in particular,
00:55to begin targeting the government?
01:00Rajneef, I'm glad you started with this, that the Congress Party, from the very beginning,
01:05made it very, very clear that after that dastardly terrorist attack in Pahal,
01:10the Congress Party was fully with the government and with the armed forces of the country.
01:17Because this was a time for us to show unity, because terrorism can only be defeated if we are united.
01:24I think that was important, and we did it.
01:26And I think in that, the government, the opposition, we all succeeded.
01:32Now, Rajneef, what has happened since then is a few things have come to light,
01:37which we must address.
01:39And we need to address this from the beginning till the end and going forward.
01:46How did Pahal Gham happen?
01:49What really happened at that time?
01:52Was there a lapse?
01:54It seemed that there was a security lapse, but nobody has taken any responsibility.
01:58Not one person has said that we are accountable.
02:01If you remember, Rajneef, after the Mumbai attacks,
02:05the Home Minister and the National Security Advisor had to put in their papers.
02:08And they called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh weak.
02:11There is no accountability with them.
02:13You know, as far as the BJP is concerned,
02:15the BJP wants the glory of military action,
02:18but not the responsibility of civilian failure.
02:21We must address that.
02:22Then...
02:23Okay, let me tell you.
02:25You make an important point.
02:27Let Thuheen Sinha respond.
02:28You just heard Salman Sos say that the BJP wants to take the glory of military action,
02:35not the failure of civilian accountability.
02:37For example, if the opposition now asks the question about security lapses in Pahal Gham
02:43and fixing of accountability for the same,
02:46or the fact that Donald Trump, the President of America,
02:49announced a ceasefire between India and Pakistan,
02:52are these legitimate questions not to be asked?
02:54Or is it anybody asks questions, they are to be called anti-national to Thuheen Sinha?
03:03Well, good evening, Rajdeep.
03:04Good evening, everybody.
03:05You know, let me first begin by calling out the notoriety and the bluff of Rahul Gandhi
03:11on a very important issue.
03:12You know, and since both of us, since all three of us over here
03:15are pretty good in our comprehension of English,
03:18and you could give a tutor class to, you know, to Congress if they aren't.
03:22What did our EAM say at the start?
03:25That was corroborated by the DGMO, General Rajeev Ghai,
03:31when he says, in the wake of our attacks on the terror camps,
03:35what does in the wake mean?
03:36If Rahul Gandhi does not understand this,
03:43and he purposely and maliciously distorts an innocuous statement of EAM,
03:49I think, you know, there are sinister motives written all over it,
03:53and that needs to be called out.
03:56You know, the facade of Rahul Gandhi standing with the government,
03:59and the facade of him supporting the country,
04:02has, you know, been blown to smithereens.
04:04Today, Khargeji says,
04:06Chhoti moti yudh, chut put yudh,
04:09and within one hour of that,
04:10you know, you have seen Haseem Munir being promoted.
04:13So there seems to be a bizarre,
04:14there seems to be a weird coordination going on
04:18between this Congress party and their friends overseas.
04:21My simple questions are...
04:22Isn't that a stretch?
04:23One minute, one minute, one minute.
04:24Rahul Gandhi seems to deride some sort of...
04:26Let me, let me completely...
04:27No, no, are you seriously saying that the Congress party
04:30is working in tandem with Pakistan?
04:32The first part you made, saying that Rahul Gandhi is misquoting Jai Shankar...
04:36I am asking you a simple question.
04:37But then you are going on to make a leap from there to suggest
04:40that Rahul Gandhi is in tandem with Pakistan.
04:43I am asking you...
04:44I am asking you a simple question that would answer your question.
04:49Why are the Congress leaders so hell-bent on becoming stars in the Pakistani media?
04:54Have you seen how many Pakistani channels are quoting Congress leaders to score brownie points?
05:01Is that what is expected of a responsible opposition at this hour?
05:05You know, have we seen the Congress party...
05:07Rahul Gandhi seems to be deriving some sort of a wicked glee in...
05:10in, you know, in assuming that we have had damages.
05:14But have we seen Congress party exude half as much excitement
05:18when the DGMO listed out 11 PAF bases which have been destroyed?
05:23Where are the priorities of this Congress party?
05:26Where are the loyalties of this Congress party?
05:28That is a serious question which the whole country is asking.
05:31Okay, let me ask this question to Salman Sos.
05:34Salman Sos, the Congress party, does it recognize or realize that whatever Rahul Gandhi says...
05:40for example, when he says, please tell us how many jets were shot down,
05:44that these quotes will then be used in Pakistani media
05:48to try and somehow suggest that Pakistan won the war in the air.
05:53Is that what Rahul Gandhi wants?
05:55It's one thing to ask a question about accountability for Pahalgam security lapses.
05:59It's another thing when you start questioning military gains and losses
06:03at a time when the conflict is barely... is hardly concluded.
06:08Rajdi, first, let me basically tell your audience
06:13that the question you posed to the BJP spokesperson
06:16was about taking responsibility, accountability, anything.
06:20And the BJP spokesperson had no answer because we know the answer.
06:24The people of India are not stupid.
06:26The people of India are smart.
06:27They know that the BJP is not...
06:29Nobody in this government takes responsibility for anything.
06:32That is one.
06:33Second...
06:33No, but why didn't your leader only...
06:35No, no, Mr. Sos, why didn't your leader only focus on that?
06:38He then went on to ask questions about how many jets were shot down.
06:42Is that the right question to be asking?
06:44Rajdeep, let me get to these things.
06:46But, you know, you gave to him some time.
06:48Let me give you a...
06:49Give me a minute.
06:50The second thing that is important to note is about...
06:54You started with unity.
06:55Let me again take the audience and you back to what happened post-Mumbai attacks.
07:01Prime Minister Mahmong Singh at that time called an all-party meeting where he was present and he spoke to everyone, brought everybody together.
07:10And then after that, delegations of Indian parliamentarians and senior leaders went out of the country to take India's case abroad.
07:19Compare that with what has happened this time.
07:21There were two all-party meetings.
07:23The Prime Minister did not think it fit to attend even one of them.
07:28Then, after that, when it was time to send...
07:31By the way, the Prime Minister has been going to different countries.
07:36He's probably been about on 100 trips.
07:38He's probably had 200 people on these foreign trips.
07:42But what did we see in this?
07:44Rajdeep, you have been scouring the newspapers in India and abroad.
07:49What did we see?
07:51What we saw was diplomatic failure.
07:54What we saw was that no country, no Donald Trump, you know, gave back an embrace.
08:01Meanwhile, Pakistan is in a tight embrace with China.
08:06And China is a country with which we have $100 billion of trade deficit.
08:11What is this government doing?
08:13It is shameful.
08:14Failure on the diplomatic front.
08:16Mr. Soze, you asked the question.
08:19You see, there are questions which you can ask, which are clearly in the national interest.
08:23There are other questions perhaps, which perhaps need to, you know, you need to be a little bit more conscious about the timing of the question.
08:30But since it has been repeated by you more than once about what happened after 2611.
08:36Remember, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was then Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time.
08:41The operation was going on at Trident, where the terror attack had taken place, one of the five-star hotels in Mumbai.
08:50And this was while the attack was going on.
08:52This is what the Prime Minister had said then.
08:53The Prime Minister of Gujarat at the time.
09:23The Prime Minister was then Chief Minister had targeted Manmohan Singh.
09:27If that is kosher, Rahul Gandhi asking questions after the operation is over is not kosher.
09:33Are we saying that there are different standards to what happens when you are in power and when you are not in power?
09:38Let me, Rajdeep, remind you what happened after 2611.
09:46Exactly six months after 2611, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had brought the shame of Sharm al-Sheikh.
09:55Do you remember Sharm al-Sheikh?
09:57Exactly that happened exactly six months after 2611, where he gave permission to Pakistan to interrogate or to probe our imaginary involvement in Balochistan.
10:07This was during the operation.
10:09No, no, Mr. Tuin Sina, while the operation was on in 2611, Prime Minister Modi at the time had attacked Manmohan Singh.
10:19Was that justified?
10:21He was sufficiently away from the place of operations.
10:26He was sufficiently away from the place of operations.
10:31But exactly two days after the event, Rahul Gandhi was partying.
10:34That is the difference.
10:35But anyway, you know, Mr. Sos is asking, what are you doing?
10:39What have you done after the Pahlgaam attack?
10:41We have avenged terror attacks dating back to even 1999.
10:45So have patience.
10:46Who is accountable for the Pahlgaam security labs?
10:48Mr. Sina, who is accountable for the Pahlgaam security labs?
10:51Mr. Tuin Sina, who is accountable for Pahlgaam security labs?
10:55Mr. Sina, who is accountable for Pahlgaam security labs?
10:58Has one officer been removed?
10:59No, we have accepted.
11:00No, no, Rajdeep, Rajdeep, it seems you have been following news selectively.
11:05We have accepted there is a security failure.
11:08No, you know, a terror attack of this nature cannot happen without security failure.
11:13Now, the point is, I am telling you with our action, punitive action on Pakistan,
11:19we have avenged terror attacks dating back to 1999.
11:22So rest assured, this is an assurance I am giving on your show,
11:25even the four terrorists involved in Pahlgaam will be brutalized beyond your imagination
11:30and beyond the imagination of the Congress party.
11:33It's a matter of time.
11:34It's a matter of time.
11:35There is no going back.
11:36We are ruthless on these terror groups.
11:40Okay, you know, Salman, so I played an old bite of Prime Minister Modi.
11:43Let me now play one of Rahul Gandhi.
11:45This was after the surgical strikes of 2016.
11:48This is what Rahul Gandhi said then.
11:50You will recall became a statement made by Rahul Gandhi at the time after Uri.
12:07The question therefore is, somewhere Sarman shows, this kind of rhetoric that is brought out.
12:25Should this be the rhetoric that politicians should resort to at a time of national crisis when Rahul Gandhi himself had said,
12:37we stand united behind the government.
12:39So you are back to Uri now.
12:41We thought things had changed between Uri and Pahlgaam.
12:44Rajdi, one question for the entire country.
12:48Should the Prime Minister be in military attire saluting?
12:54He is the only face of Operation Sindhu, not the soldiers who are actually doing the work, who are putting their lives in danger.
13:04But it is only Narendra Modi.
13:06Nobody else.
13:06Is that appropriate?
13:08Is that appropriate for this country?
13:10Is it appropriate for our democracy?
13:12Is it appropriate for our military?
13:14I think not.
13:16But let me now just ask you, Rajdi.
13:19Like Toheen said, that, you know, after he was basically about to criticize the late Prime Minister Manbohan Singhji.
13:28Let me remind you and the people who are watching this TV show that after that heinous attack, Pakistan was put on the Financial Action Task Force.
13:39How did that happen?
13:40Pakistan was criticized.
13:43Basically, the Security Council passed a resolution against terrorists.
13:46The National Security Advisor of the United States, Connellisa Rice, she was actually the Secretary of State.
13:52She said that Pakistan must bring those terrorists to heel.
13:56She said it.
13:57In this case, in this case, what happened?
14:00Even France, which sold us trafal jets, which is our great ally now because we're buying so much defense equipment from them.
14:11Even they played at both sides.
14:13Donald Trump, you know, by the way, the Prime Minister is always saying that we are a fish group, mother of democracy.
14:21But when Donald Trump said that there is going to be a ceasefire before Pakistan and India, before anyone could say anything, nothing, the Prime Minister didn't say anything.
14:34The Prime Minister did not say that this is, we have not agreed to this.
14:38Do you want the Prime Minister to engage, no, no, you know, Salman, the Prime Minister cannot engage in a public spat with Donald Trump.
14:46Surely that's not what you expected either.
14:48I mean, my point is, in all your attempts to score political points, are you losing, missing the wood for the trees?
14:56There are certain things you can say behind camera, certain things in public.
15:00No, no, Raji, 30 seconds or less than that.
15:04The Prime Minister did not have to get into a public spat with President Trump.
15:08Obviously, we want to have good relations with America.
15:11We want very tight, good relations with America.
15:14But he could have certainly protected India's self-respect and said that this is not, maybe there's a misunderstanding.
15:22Okay.
15:23He could have diplomatically said it, but he did not protect the country's self-respect.
15:26Okay.
15:27And I think that is shameful.
15:28Okay, your 30 seconds are up.
15:30I will give Tween Sina final 30 seconds.
15:32You know, Tween Sina, right through this show, we are showing these memes which are running on social media.
15:38Some which are showing Rahul Gandhi should get Nishane Pakistan.
15:41The Congress has hit back also by showing half face of Modi, half of Shahbaz Sharif.
15:46Does any of this do credit to India at a time when we want to go to the world and project unity?
15:51My point is, you know, surely the way out would be for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi to talk to each other.
15:58That's what previous Prime Ministers would do.
15:59Narsimha Rao would speak to Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he was the leader of the operation.
16:04Ramon Singh would speak to LK Advani.
16:07Why is there this unwillingness to talk to each other?
16:09We can instead talk at each other through social media.
16:12We are embarrassing ourselves.
16:13Rajdeep, since you are taking me back to the Vajpayee era, let me remind you that in 1994,
16:23when Vajpayee had got the opportunity to represent India at the UNHRC summit at Geneva,
16:30the entire BJP was proud.
16:33They did not behave in the petty manner that Rahul Gandhi is behaving just because Shashi Tharoor has been chosen to lead an important delegation.
16:43That is the crucial difference over here.
16:45This Congress party is a regressive party for the BJP.
16:49The nation comes first for this particular Congress party.
16:51Sir, I said the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition would speak.
16:55I take your point, but the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition would speak directly to each other.
17:01Mr. Tuin Sina, India's convention was for the leaders to speak.
17:05What stops the Prime Minister from picking up the phone and speaking to Mr. Kharge?
17:09And that is to upset the India's diplomatic outreach.
17:13Okay.
17:14I'm going to leave it there.
17:15What we clearly see is a...
17:16Can you repeat the question, please?
17:18No, my limited point to you, Tuin, was what stops the Prime Minister from picking up the phone,
17:23speaking to the leader of the opposition and settling these issues rather than running these, you know, means...
17:28No, no, for that, Rahul Gandhi has to behave responsibility.
17:31Five seconds on Shashi Tharoor.
17:32Five seconds.
17:33Okay.
17:34Rajiv, what Rahul Gandhi, what Rahul Gandhi has done in the last two days amounts to perfidy.
17:41You know, the kind of behavior doesn't behave a leader of opposition.
17:45And I'm saying this is a full responsibility on your show.
17:47Just ten more seconds.
17:48Okay.
17:48That he has done it with a larger, malified intent to disrupt India's global outreach.
17:54At a time when, you know, the EAM is traveling abroad, at a time when our missions are traveling abroad,
17:59his intentions are deliberate.
18:01It is to disrupt India's diplomatic outreach.
18:04Okay, Tuin, your ten seconds are up.
18:05I don't think such a person needs to be spoken to.
18:05I've listened to you carefully.
18:07I've listened to Salman Sour.
18:08I just wonder, and I only cite history.
18:10What stops the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition from talking to each other?
18:15Surely that is the convention in this country.
18:19Why is that convention not being followed?
18:21That's the simple question I want to...
18:23This debate could end very easily if that was done.
18:26Minimum consensus, minimum respect for each other.
18:29Rahul Gandhi needs to introspect.
18:32Prime Minister Modi needs to introspect.
18:34And maybe if they introspected, they could find a way of talking to each other rather than talking at each other.
18:40The primary responsibility is, though, of the government to talk to the opposition rather than talk at it.
18:47And the opposition also needs to ensure that they show minimum respect to the office of the Prime Minister.