Responding to Rajnath Singh’s statement that India did not seek war or territorial gain, Gogoi asked, “If we do not claim Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir today, then when?”; “Rajnath Singh ji says the government’s intention was not to start a war. I ask, why? Why was war not our intention,” he also questioned.
Deputy leader of opposition Gaurav Gogoi on Monday launched a blistering attack on the BJP-led NDA government, accusing it of intelligence failure and failing to prevent the Pahalgam terror attack. Questioning lapses that led to the Pahalgam terror attack and criticising the centre’s counter-terrorism response, Congress’ deputy leader in the Lok Sabha asked why five terrorists responsible for the Pahalgam attack had not been caught.
Opening the Opposition’s debate in Lok Sabha, Gogoi took on Defence Minister Rajnath Singh saying he talked of ‘ghus ke marenge (will hit you inside your country)’. “He said the same thing when Pulwama happened. He said we dismantled the terror infrastructure after Pulwama, Uri then how did the terrorists come to Baisaran,” Gogoi asked. “Rajnath Singh ji gave a lot of information, but as the Defence Minister, he never mentioned how terrorists from Pakistan reached Pahalgam and killed 26 people,” he said in the speech shortly after the opening statement by Defence Minister
He also sought to know how many Rafale jets were shot down during India’s Operation Sindoor against Pakistan. Gogoi was referring to a statement of Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, who said in an interview that India suffered initial losses in the air but declined to give details and US President Donald Trump’s claims that 5-6 (fighter) jets were shot down. “One jet costs millions…we want Rajnath Singh to tell the truth. How many jets were shot down? India has the courage to listen to the truth,” Gogoi said.
Responding to Rajnath Singh’s statement that India did not seek war or territorial gain, Gogoi also asked, “If we do not claim Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir today, then when?”
“Even today, Rajnath Singh ji is saying Operation Sindoor has only paused and not stopped. He says if Pakistan attacks again, we will respond. On one hand, they say terror infrastructure has been dismantled and on the other hand, they say terror attacks can happen again. Rajnath Singh says the government’s intention was not to start a war. I ask, why? Why was war not our intention,” he also questioned.
“Rajnath Singh said in 2016 that our strikes would destroy terrorist infrastructure. He repeated this in 2019. But today, the operation remains incomplete because Rajnath Singh hinted that Pakistan may act again in the future, how long will this continue?” Gogoi asked.
Also raising the ceasefire issue, Gogoi said “on May 10, our ambassador said India would respond. By evening, a ceasefire agreement was announced. If Pakistan was truly on its knees, why did we stop? Whom did we bow before?”
He criticised India’s foreign policy posture, referring to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit joint declaration. “At the BRICS summit, only the attack in Kashmir was condemned in the declaration, not Pakistan….what do you have to say about the $1 billion IMF and $800 million ADB packages to Pakistan?”
