'Why give Pakistan something to play with?' BJP asks Rahul Gandhi to reconsider his views on Op Sindoor

BJP leader and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. (File/PTI)

Amid continuing attacks by Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi targeting the Narendra Modi government at the Centre following the Pahalgam attack and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar over his remarks on "informing Pakistan" about Operation Sindoor, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday urged the Congress leader to "reconsider his views".

"He is now the Leader of the Opposition, a very responsible post. The only gentle advice I will give him, Mr Gandhi, by your utterances, why give something to Pakistan to play with? Don’t you think it is high time the whole world accepts India’s version, which is supported by proper evidence? Why are you registering a jarring note that Pakistan is lapping up? Please reconsider your views," Prasad said speaking to The Indian Express.

The former Law Minister further noted that Congress leaders including former ministers Anand Sharma, Salman Khurshid and Manish Tewari as well as Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor have openly come out in support of the Centre over India's diplomatic outreach on Operation Sindoor and urged Rahul Gandhi to revise his stand.

On May 17, the Centre announced the formation of seven multi-party delegations to visit different countries to convey India's message on Operation Sindoor, the military operation the nation took in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. Leaders from the Congress picked by the government to be part of these delegations include Anand Sharma, Salman Khurshid, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Amar Singh.

While the abovementioned leaders have gone on record to appreciate the Centre's decision to send multi-party delegations to several countries to articulate India's stand on its fight against terror and apprising the international community of Pakistan's decades-long support to terror attacks against India, the Congress leadership remains extremely critical of the move.

It is learnt that the Congress leadership, including Rahul Gandhi, was unhappy with the selection of leaders to be part of the delegation. He has also sought to corner the Centre over Jaishankar's remarks and asked him to clarify whether India had informed Pakistan about targeting the terrorist infrastructure on its soil, and what it had meant in terms of aircraft “lost” by India.

Congress media department head Pawan Khera used an AICC briefing to repeat the allegations, adding that Jaishankar’s remarks may have helped terrorists “escape”.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh then went on to term India's diplomatic outreach a diversion. "...He (Modi) is desperate and his image globally has been shattered...He suddenly thought of such all-party delegations of MPs to visit different countries to divert attention from the tough questions he is being called to answer," Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.

In contrast, Anand Sharma hailed the Centre's move to send all-party delegations to foreign capitals to explain India’s position on terrorism as “an important initiative”, and said it is "important to sensitise global public opinion about the situation in our region created because of decades of cross-border terrorism, terrorist groups which are funded, nurtured and sheltered by the Pakistani military establishment and, in particular, the ISI."

Speaking to The Indian Express, BJP's RS Prasad acknowledged the support that senior Congress leaders have extended to the Centre.

The government has said that through the delegation it aims to inform the international community that while Pakistan has long portrayed itself as a victim, India now has enough evidence to prove its involvement in terrorism.

The delegations visiting various nations are expected to carry nation-specific dossiers and provide crucial evidence that establish Pakistan's role in the horrific terror attack that claimed 26 innocent lives on April 22 in South Kashmir's Pahalgam.