Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi got up abruptly in Parliament to ask “aapne roki kyun (why did you stop)?” when defence minister Rajnath Singh spoke of how India agreed to a cessation of hostilities after Operation Sindoor in May. The exchange took place during the Lok Sabha special debate on India’s response to Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack.
Before Rahul Gandhi intervened, Rajnath Singh said, in Hindi: “We gave the defence forces complete freedom, to choose the targets, and deliver a hard-hitting reply.”
He added, “The aim of this operation was not to go to war, but to force the enemy to surrender before our mighty armed forces. On the morning of 10 May, after the Indian Air Force destroyed several of their airbases, Pakistan conceded defeat and sought to cease hostilities.”
He had to halt as he was saying: “They (Pakistan) called our DGMO and said, ‘sir, please stop now, it’s enough. (Maharaj, ab rok dijiiye; bahut ho gaya’. We accepted their request with the caveat that…”
At this, Rahul got up briefly and asked, “Toh aapne (kaarvayi) roki kyun? (Why did you stop the operation then?)”
Ruling alliance MPs got up agitatedly, too, as Rajnath gestured and asked Rahul Gandhi to sit down. And then he said, “As to why it stopped, I have already spoken about that in detail in my speech. I respect the right of the Leader of Opposition to asl questions, but he should listen to my entire speech.”
