NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at the government for "informing" Pakistan about targeting terror infrastructure as part of Operation Sindoor, saying it was a crime and asking who had authorised it.
In a post on X, Gandhi questioned External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar for publicly admitting that the government of India (GOI) had informed Pakistan of the action and asked how many aircraft the Indian Air Force lost as a result.
"Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result?" said Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha.
He also shared an undated video of Jaishankar saying India had informed Pakistan of the action against terror infrastructure on its soil.
Jaishankar can be heard saying in the video, "At the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan, saying, 'We are striking at terrorist infrastructure and we are not striking at the military.'"
"So the military has the option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice," the minister can be heard saying in the clip.
The Press Information Bureau (PIB), however, has debunked claims that Jaishankar had said India informed Pakistan ahead of Operation Sindoor. In a post on X, the PIB's Fact Check Unit said the minister had not made any such statement and that he was being misquoted.
Meanwhile, an official statement from the MEA's XP Division, as reported by ANI, said: “EAM Dr S Jaishankar had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Operation Sindoor’s commencement. This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out,” the ministry said.
The BJP accused Rahul Gandhi of serving as a "propaganda tool" of Pakistan and spreading "fake news" after the Congress leader raised questions on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's remarks on Operation Sindoor.
BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari accused Gandhi of spreading "fake news" and asked if the Congress was unhappy with the demolition of terror infrastructure in Pakistan under Operation Sindoor.
"Stop spreading fake news, Rahul Gandhi," Bhandhari wrote on X.
"Old habits die hard. Rahul Gandhi who was partying after the 26/11 Mumbai Terror attack, and who was officially quoted by Pakistani military in its press conference is back to question our forces," Bhandari charged in another post on X.
"Is Congress unhappy that Operation Sindoor demolished terror infrastructure in Pakistan," he asked.
Slamming Gandhi for his remarks, another BJP national spokesperson Ajay Alok accused the Congress leader of speaking for Pakistan and asked him to "stop being a propaganda tool of Pakistan".
"You have been doing this for the last three generations," Alok said in a video message on X, reacting to Gandhi's remarks.
(With inputs from PTI, ANI)