Reveal truth to country: Cong to govt after CDS’ remarks on losses in Operation Sindoor
New Delhi: The Congress asked the government on Saturday to be truthful about the country’s losses during the conflict with Pakistan after Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan remarked that India rectified tactics and hit deep inside enemy territory after aircraft “loss”.
Gen Chauhan, however, dismissed as “absolutely incorrect” Islamabad’s claim of downing six Indian jets.
Latching on to the comment by the chief of defence staff (CDS), Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of misleading the nation on the India-Pakistan conflict and demanded holding a special session of Parliament immediately.
Kharge also said his party demands a comprehensive review of India’s defence preparedness by an independent expert committee, on the lines of the survey done by the Kargil Review Committee.
He demanded answers from the government on the claims of US President Donald Trump on the “ceasefire” that he “brokered” between India and Pakistan and sought to know the “conditions”.
“In the wake of the remarks made by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in Singapore in an interview, there are some very important questions that need to be asked. These can only be done if a special session of the Parliament is immediately convened,” the Congress chief said.
“The Modi Government has misled the nation. The fog of war is now clearing.”
Kharge said his party salutes the armed forces’ resolute courage and bravery. However, a comprehensive strategic review is the need of the hour, he asserted.
Citing Donald Trump’s statements, Kharge said the US president has again repeated his claim about “brokering a ceasefire”.
“This is a direct affront to the Shimla Agreement. Instead of clarifying Mr Trump’s repeated assertions and the affidavit filed by the US Secretary of Commerce in the United States Court of International Trade, PM Modi is on an election blitz, taking personal credit for the valour of our armed forces, hiding behind their bravery and dodging the contours of the agreed ceasefire, which the foreign secretary announced on May 10 after Trump’s tweet.”
“Is India and Pakistan now again hyphenated? What are the conditions of the ceasefire agreement? The 140 crore patriotic Indians deserve to know this,” Kharge asserted in his X post.
Congress leader Uttam Kumar Reddy said the country wanted to know whether any aircraft were downed during the conflict, especially in the wake of the CDS’ “admission”.
He said accountability was normal in a democracy and the government has to be transparent and answer to the 140 crore Indians.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also asked, “It is an extraordinary and telling commentary on Emergency@11 that the PM will not chair all-party meetings and will not take Parliament into confidence but the nation gets to know of the first phase of Operation Sindoor through the CDS’s interview in Singapore.”
“Couldn’t opposition leaders have been taken into confidence by the PM earlier?” he asked on X.
Ramesh said that on July 29, 1999, the Vajpayee government set up the Kargil Review Committee three days after the Kargil War under the chairmanship of “India’s strategic affairs guru K Subrahmanyam, whose son is now our external affairs minister”.
“Will the Modi government now take a similar step in light of what the Chief of Defence Staff has just revealed in Singapore?” Ramesh posed.
Soon after CDS Gen Chouhan’s remarks, made during an interview with Bloomberg TV, got published, Reddy took the opportunity to say, “It appears very clearly a Rafale fighter aircraft was downed in the four-day operations.”
“Today, an hour ago, CDS Gen Chauhan has confirmed that a Rafale aircraft was brought down in the four-day operation. The fact that the fighter aircraft were down is something that the Government of India needs to stop denying. The CDS himself mentioned that.”
At a press conference, the Congress leader said, “Earlier, Air Marshal (Awadesh Kumar) Bharti had mentioned it indirectly in his briefing along with the DGMO. He specifically said that ‘losses are normal in combat; the mission objective of the operation has been achieved, and all pilots have come home’.”
He said when Rahul Gandhi first pointed it out in a question to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, it was “very bizarre and strange” that the ruling party functionaries at all levels accused him of being unpatriotic.
“We are happy that the objectives (of Operation Sindoor) have been achieved, but the fact that the fighter aircraft were down is something… the Government of India should stop denying. The CDS himself has mentioned it and Air Marshall Bharti had also done so,” Reddy said.
The Telangana minister reiterated the Congress’ support for the Indian armed forces in every endeavour. “The party congratulates them as they have done a great job and we are proud of them, we salute them,” he said.
“Today, the whole country must realise that for some reason the Government of India was not upfront with whatever happened. The other thing that needs reassessment by the government is that most of the firing in the four-day operation was done by respective countries from within their borders; still, we lost our aircraft.
“I think this needs serious reassessment of technology so that lessons are learnt and we go forward and improve in those aspects,” Reddy, a former IAF pilot, said.
He refuted allegations that his party was playing politics over the issue and said that after every war or conflict, all nations disclose what losses they inflicted on the enemy and what losses they suffered.
“We are not playing politics. We are proud of our armed forces’ decisive victory over Pakistan. We want to know the truth about the reverses for lessons for future conflicts.”
“The moot point is every time we raised this, they (ruling party) said we are anti-patriotic, anti-national. Are they going to accuse Gen Chauhan of this now?” he posed.
Reddy claimed the government was trying to, somehow, not come out clearly with what really has happened. “We feel the government must be more transparent on every significant event that took place throughout the India-Pak operation,” he said, adding the way forward must be clear and transparent.
“We are very proud of our armed forces and we have seen the satellite pictures. Please tell us how many Pakistan Air Force aircraft you have downed and Indian aircraft that were down.
“A government has to be transparent. Accountability is normal in a democracy. This is not about patriotism. We are more patriotic. Our first family, the Gandhi family, have suffered and have made huge sacrifices for the integrity of the country and these people question us. This is really shocking,” the Congress leader said.
Reddy, who was a member of the Parliamentary Defence Committee in the previous Lok Sabha, disclosed the committee had flagged the “shortage” of the operational equipment and manpower in the IAF. Overall, there was a shortfall of about 10 per cent in the sanctioned manpower in the defence forces, he said.
The Congress leader said the IAF chief had flagged the “severe delay” in the supply of fighter jets and the weaponry, which is a cause of serious concern particularly when the country is surrounded by hostile neighbours.
“The entire country and the Government of India must wake up to the need to significantly strengthen our armed forces.”
In this context, he also referred to the Air Force chief’s concern that the best minds in the country were not joining the IAF, both in the operations and defence research.
Gen Chauhan, in the interview, said India flew all its jets and carried out high-precision strikes to hit back at Pakistan after ascertaining the reasons for the initial losses.
He is in Singapore to participate in the Shangri-La Dialogue.
The Chief of Defence Staff declined to specify the losses in terms of numbers but clearly pointed out the fact that the Indian military struck deep inside Pakistani territory that, New Delhi said, forced Islamabad to plead to stop the hostilities.
The comments by the top military officer are the Indian military’s first clear acknowledgement of losses in the four-day military clashes with the neighbouring country.
“I think what is important is not the jet being downed but why they were being downed,” Gen Chauhan, currently on a visit to Singapore, said.
He was asked whether India lost combat jets during the four-day military clashes with Pakistan earlier this month.
Indian Air Force’s Director General of Air Operations, Air Marshal AK Bharti, had acknowledged that “losses are a part of combat” and said all IAF pilots returned “home safely”. He made the remarks at a media briefing on May 11 in responding to a question on Pakistan’s claim of downing Indian jets.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan using long-range weapons such as the Brahmos cruise missile in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May 10.
