Congress to use Jai Hind rallies to ‘demand answers’ from PM Modi

Wary that the BJP would reap political dividends from Operation Sindoor by reinforcing Narendra Modi’s “tough against terror” image, the Congress plans to up the ante against the Prime Minister with questions on why India’s retaliatory strikes against Pakistan were ended abruptly on May 10.

On Wednesday (May 14), members of the Congress Working Committee met informally in New Delhi and decided to redefine the narrative of the party’s ongoing Jai Hind sabhas and rallies. These meetings and rallies had initially been planned to express solidarity with the Indian Armed Forces when the conflict with Pakistan, which began soon after nine terror hubs in the neighbouring country were neutralised during Operation Sindoor, was still raging.

However, with US president Donald Trump’s unexpected and unprecedented announcement of India and Pakistan agreeing to a ceasefire beginning 5 pm on May 10 and the subsequent cessation of hostilities between the two countries, the Congress has now decided to use the Jai Hind rallies to “demand answers from the Prime Minister on critical issues of national security and India’s sovereignty.”

Also read: Trump not only hyphenating India, Pak but also comparing PM Modi with Sharif: Congress

Sindoor success may overshadow security failures, fears Congress

The party feels that the success of Operation Sindoor and the fiercely punitive response Indian Armed Forces gave to Pakistan’s subsequent escalatory manoeuvres could overshadow the security failures that led to the Pahalgam massacre and also the Centre’s failure to stand up to Trump’s “threats of stopping trade with India if a US-mediated ceasefire wasn’t accepted”.

The US President, the Congress leadership believes, has given enough reasons to corner the Centre on the very plank that the BJP believes is the strongest facet of the Modi’s public persona, that of being unsparing towards Pakistan and terror.

By repeatedly asserting that it was the US that negotiated the ceasefire between India and Pakistan “by using trade” and even claiming that he was now working to find a solution for the Kashmir issue, Trump has effectively hyphenated India and Pakistan, something previous Indian regimes, irrespective of their political composition, had worked hard against.

Additionally, Trump’s stand goes against the stated public position of both India and Pakistan that the Kashmir issue has to be resolved bilaterally between the two countries without any third-party intervention.

Also read: Indo-Pak ties: Third-party mediation has been reality since 1990, says Cong MP

Trail of unanswered questions, says party

Nothing that the “abrupt end to India’s retaliatory action against Pakistan has left behind a trail of unanswered questions”, a resolution adopted at the informal CWC meet on Wednesday said, “The sudden halt, without clarity or communication, has led to speculation and concern across the country. Adding to this is the deeply problematic statement by the US President Donald Trump, who was the first to claim that a ceasefire was brokered with the use of trade threats and pressure on India.

“The Government of India’s silence on this matter is inexplicable and unacceptable. Successive Indian governments, cutting across party lines, have firmly maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan. President Trump’s assertion, unchallenged by the Modi government, has internationalised a matter that must remain firmly within bilateral frameworks. This represents a dangerous and unprecedented hyphenation of India with Pakistan, which compromises our national position and prestige.”

This line of attack at the Centre, coupled with strident attempts to draw public attention back to the fact that Operation Sindoor was necessitated because of the massacre in Pahalgam, which could have been prevented at the first place had the Centre made adequate security arrangements at the tourist hotspot, is expected to be the core message of Congress’s Jai Hind rallies.

Also read: Congress seeks Kargil-style probe into Pahalgam after Trump’s claims

'Under what pressure did Modi agree to ceasefire?'

The Congress, which has also been reiterating its twin demands for convening an all-party meeting chaired by the prime minister and a special session of Parliament, to discuss threadbare the entire sequence of events “beginning not with Operation Sindoor but the massacre in Pahalgam”, also has a litany of questions for Modi on the terms agreed upon with Pakistan for the ceasefire.

“The entire country is aware that the Indian Armed Forces were crushing their counterparts in Pakistan during the three days that the conflict raged on after Operation Sindoor and then suddenly they were ordered to stop. The nation needs an answer from none other than the Prime Minister on what pressure he acted under to agree to a ceasefire,” Congress media wing chief Pawan Khera told reporters.

Khera also wondered why Modi and External Affairs minister S Jaishankar were silent on the claims being made daily by Trump about the events immediately preceding the announcement of ceasefire. “The US President says he used the threat of ending trade with India to negotiate the ceasefire. The PM needs to tell the country if this is true. The clarification has to come from the Prime Minister and not from some unnamed source or some joint secretary level official because this raises very serious questions of national security and sovereignty. Has trade been given prioritized over India’s security and sovereignty,” Khera asked.

Also read: Cong asks if PM has accepted US mediation on Kashmir, stopped ops against Pak for trade

Congress determined to not let Modi 'hide behind armed forces'

A senior Congress leader who was present at Wednesday’s meeting told The Federal that the party leadership was “absolutely determined” to not let Modi escape scrutiny by “hiding behind the Armed Forces”.

“This is the same government that keeps twisting history to claim that Congress governments didn’t do enough to end terrorism or that we didn’t get PoK back when Indira Gandhi’s government helped carve out Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971. The home minister (Amit Shah) made big speeches in Parliament saying if Indira Gandhi had agreed to the ceasefire three days later, PoK would have been ours. Today, it is the Modi government that owes an explanation to the country — under whose pressure did you tell the Armed Forces to pull back? Why was the ceasefire agreed to and if you are accepting a ceasefire, then what were the assurances you got from Pakistan before agreeing to the ceasefire?” the senior leader quoted above added.

Congress communications department chief Jairam Ramesh also slammed Modi for exercising “maximum silence (on the ceasefire terms) and maximum politics (to cash in Operation Sindoor for BJP’s gain)”.

“We have repeatedly been urging the Prime Minister to chair an all-party meeting and to convene a special session of Parliament so that all issues related to the Pahalgam attack, Operation Sindoor and the nation’s security can be discussed but there is absolute silence from his end. On the other hand, his party is doing Tiranga Yatras to give credit for Operation Sindoor to Modi while the PM has decided to convene a meeting of only NDA chief ministers on May 25. Is this not a brazen attempt to politicise Operation Sindoor? At a time like this, he should have convened a meeting of all Chief Ministers, cutting across party lines and he should have chaired an all-party meeting and convened a special session of Parliament to take everyone into confidence,” Ramesh said.

Khera added that the Congress also wants Modi to inform the nation “whether Pakistan gave you an assurance that all terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack will be handed over to India; will other terrorists who got safe harbour in Pakistan in the past after launching terror strikes in India will be handed over to us... did you even try to get such an assurance before agreeing to the ceasefire”. These issues, Khera said, will also be raised during the party’s Jai Hind sabhas and rallies.