Govt misled nation, must hold special Parl session: Kharge after CDS' Operation Sindoor remark
New Delhi, May 31 (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday accused the government of misleading the nation on the India-Pakistan conflict and demanded holding a special session of Parliament immediately, following Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan's acknowledgement of aircraft loss in the hostilities.
Gen Chouhan, however, dismissed as "absolutely incorrect" Islamabad's claim of downing six Indian jets.
In a post on X, Kharge 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.
"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," he said.
"The Modi Government has misled the nation. The fog of war is now clearing."
The Congress chief said the IAF pilots risked their lives fighting the enemy, and "suffered some losses but our pilots were safe".
He was referring to Gen Chauhan's interview in which the CDS said that "we made, remedy it, rectify it, and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets again, targeting at long range".
The Congress president said his party salutes their resolute courage and bravery. However, a comprehensive strategic review is the need of the hour, he asserted.
"The Congress party demands a Comprehensive Review of our Defence Preparedness by an independent expert committee, on the lines of the Kargil Review Committee," he said.
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," Kharge noted in his post.
"Is India and Pakistan now again hyphenated? What are the conditions of the ceasefire agreement? The 140 crore patriotic Indians deserve to know this," the Congress chief asserted.
In a separate post on X, 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.
Gen Chauhan, in the interview, asserted it is more important to find out why the aircraft were lost so that the Indian military could improve tactics and hit back again.
"I think what is important is not the jet being downed but why they were being downed," he said.
The CDS was asked whether India lost combat jets during the four-day military clashes with Pakistan earlier this month.
"The good part is that we were able to understand the tactical mistakes which we made; remedied, rectified and then implemented it again after two days. We flew all our jets again targeting at long range," he said.
"Absolutely incorrect," Gen Chauhan said when asked about Pakistan's claim of shooting down six Indian jets during Operation Sindoor.
Previously, Indian Air Force's Director General of Air Operations, Air Marshall AK Bharti, acknowledged that "losses are a part of combat" and said all IAF pilots returned home safely.
Air Marshall Bharti made the remarks at a media briefing on May 11 when asked about Indi'a aircraft losses during Operation Sindoor.
Gen Chauhan is in Singapore to participate in the Shangri-La Dialogue.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
