‘Some were stopped’: PM Modi’s swipe at Congress over Shashi Tharoor’s ‘maunvrat’ in Lok Sabha

When asked for a comment after PM Modi’s address in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor said, “Talk to somebody who is willing to talk"

During his speech in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dig at the Congress party for not allowing their MPs Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari to speak during a discussion on Operation Sindoor.

The Prime Minister said: “Even if our hearts don’t align in party interests, they must align in the nation’s interest. The country now has a “Sindoor spirit”, which we saw when our representatives went to tell the world about India’s side. I congratulate each one of them. Although the big leaders of Congress are unhappy with this as well. Some have even been stopped from speaking in the House.”

Both the Congress leaders were part of the delegations India sent abroad to highlight its stand against cross-border terrorism.

When asked for a comment after PM Modi’s address in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor said, “Talk to somebody who is willing to talk. There are lots of people who are enthusiastic to talk to the press. I am not."

Earlier, sources told news agency ANI that while Manish Tewari had sent a request to the party to speak during the debate, Tharoor apparently conveyed unwillingness as his stance during the visit abroad of the delegation would be at variance with the party's strong stance against the government on aspects related to the military operation to hit target infrastructure in Pakistan and PoJK.

#WATCH | Operation Sindoor | PM says, "What is sad and surprising is that those who consider themselves tall leaders of Congress are rattled by the fact that why India's perspective was presented before the world. Perhaps a few leaders have been prohibited from speaking in the… pic.twitter.com/0KrDf7vAHc

— ANI (@ANI) July 29, 2025

Tharoor earlier gave a cryptic reply when asked if he would take part in the debate. “Maunvrat, maunvrat,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi launched a no-holds-barred attack in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, accusing PM Modi of using the armed forces to protect his image after the Pahalgam attack and dared him to rebut US President Donald Trump’s India-Pakistan.

"If Modi ji has even 50 per cent of the courage that Indira Gandhi had, then clearly he must say in Parliament - Donald Trump is lying," he said.

Participating in a special discussion in Lok Sabha on "India's strong, successful and decisive Operation Sindoor in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam", he claimed the government revealed sensitive details about Operation Sindoor to Pakistan, soon after it was launched.

"Yesterday, I watched Rajnath Singh ji's speech. He said that Operation Sindoor began at 1:05 in the morning and lasted for 22 minutes. He said a very shocking thing: that at 1:35, we called Pakistan and told them that we had hit non-military targets and we didn't want escalation. These are the words of the Defence Minister of India," the former Congress president said.

"You told Pakistan exactly what you would do: that you would not target military establishments and you didn't want escalation. That's surrender. Immediate surrender in 30 minutes," Gandhi said, slamming the government.