Launching a scathing attack on the government in Parliament, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi on Monday said Home Minister Amit Shah must take responsibility for “security lapses” that allowed the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.Gogoi said this while opening the special discussion on behalf of the Opposition on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha. He spoke after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had initiated the debate.“The country and those who lost their families want to know how the government has not been able to catch the terrorists even 90 days after the attack. They want to know how these terrorists were given shelter and information,” said Gogoi.The Congress leader said Shah could not “hide behind” J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. “If someone needs to take the responsibility, it is the Home Minister,” said the deputy leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha.Earlier this month, Sinha had taken “full responsibility” for the incident, calling it a “security lapse”.Gogoi also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not visiting Pahalgam after the terror attack.“He (Modi) returned from Saudi Arabia and addressed a political rally in Bihar but did not go to Pahalgam,” said the Congress MP, adding, “If someone went to Pahalgam, it was our leader Rahul Gandhi.”Gogoi further claimed that although the attack was carried out by Pakistan, it was China that had orchestrated it.“I would like to ask (Defence Minister) Rajnath Singh, why did you not talk of China in your speech when you had claimed that you will show red eyes to China?” he sought to know.Referring to US President Donald Trump’s claims on the ceasefire agreement between New Delhi and Islamabad amid Operation Sindoor, Gogoi said the Opposition wanted to know why the offensive against Pakistan stopped all of a sudden on the evening of May 10, when just hours before that the government was claiming via media channels that it would take back PoK.He also expressed concern over the country’s limited fleet of fighter planes, pointing out that only 35 Rafale jets were currently in service. “If any have been lost, it’s a serious national loss,” he said.Gogoi further cited the remarks of India’s defence attache to Indonesia, Captain Shiv Kumar, who had said the IAF “lost fighter jets” in the initial stage of Operation Sindoor because of the orders of the government to hit only terror infrastructure in Pakistan.Quoting another Army official, Gogoi said the number of targets was reduced from 21 to nine. “What were the political reasons for reducing the number?” he said.Responding to Rajnath’s statement that India did not seek war or territorial gain, Gogoi said, “If we do not claim Pakistan-occupied Kashmir today, then when?”He pointed out that similar rhetoric followed past attacks in Uri and Pulwama, yet Pakistan dared to strike again.The Congress MP further raised doubts about the ceasefire with Pakistan. “On May 10, our ambassador said India would respond. By the evening, a ceasefire agreement was announced. If Pakistan was truly on its knees, why did we stop? Whom did we bow before?”Questioning the government’s foreign policy stand, Gogoi argued that the disagreement in the SCO Summit’s joint declaration was because a few associate nations in the group hyphenated India and Pakistan. “You are happy with the playfulness of the words at the BRICS Summit. It was only the attack in Kashmir that was condemned in their declaration, not Pakistan. If that is the case, what do you have to say about the $1 billion IMF and $800 million ADB packages to Pakistan?”
Cong slams Shah for ‘security lapses’
