Congress takes 'Sindoor ka Sauda' jab at PM Modi, cites Trump's claims on mediation

He also referred to party MP Rahul Gandhi's allegations that the actions by the government, when seen in the context of Jaishankar's remarks, resulted in losses for our armed forces and also gave Pakistan an edge over India with prior knowledge.

"We do not know what secrets America and China have about PM Modi, Foreign Minister and BJP leaders, because they never open their mouth in front of America and China. Whenever their mouth opens, it opens directly to give a clean chit. We don't care about the secrets they might have of yours, but why is it harming the country?

"Why will justice not be served for the Pahalgam attack, because you are afraid of China and America. The entire country and the world knows what China's role was in this war and America itself is boasting about its role in stopping this war, but Jaishankar ji does not open his mouth," he added.

Notably, S Jaishankar had on Thursday said, “At the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan saying we are striking at terrorists’ infrastructure. We are not striking at the military. So the military has an option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice.”

The minister was referring to Director General of Military Operation Lt General Rajiv Ghai’s call to his Pakistani counterpart Major General Kashif Abdullah in the aftermath of nine Pak-based terror infrastructures being hit in the May 7 precision strikes.

Later, ANI quoted the MEA’s External Publicity Division’s explanation of the conflicted development: “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.”

Operation Sindoor was the name given to India's military strike on nine terrorist bases in PoK and Pakistan. The name struck an emotional chord as it came in response to the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 where 26 civilians, all male, were killed in front of their families after terrorists ascertained their identities. Among those killed were some newly married individuals and the operation was thus named Sindoor as vengeance on behalf of the widowed women.

The Congress's "Sindoor ka Sauda" remark is an allegation that the Indian government under PM Modi traded the halt of Operation Sindoor for the sake of trade with the United States.

This isn't the first time that the Congress has used slurs to level serious allegations against the Prime Minister. In 2007, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had referred to Modi, then Gujarat CM, as "Maut ka Saudagar" while referring to his alleged role in the Gujarat riots in 2002.