How is Operation Sindoor successful if Pahalgam terrorists haven't been caught? Congress asks BJP

New Delhi: Congress on Monday asked the ruling BJP how it could claim that 'Operation Sindoor' is successful until terrorists involved in the Pahalgam terror strike are caught or killed.

It also asked the government to fix responsibility for the security lapses that led to the April 22 strike in which 26 people were killed.

Party General Secretary Bhupesh Baghel, also former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, also referred to the ceasefire announcement and said people thought it was a "good opportunity" to capture Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK), as the mood of the nation was for revenge.

Addressing a press conference, he accused the BJP of politicising the Pahalgam attack and asked if US President Donald Trump announcing the ceasefire was a "diplomatic failure" even as he found fault with the government's leadership.

Claiming that Trump announcing the ceasefire was "shameful, insulting and humiliating", he said, "now we demand transparency from the government. The public deserves to know -- was the sudden ceasefire announced by the US President, even before any announcement by India and Pakistan, not a diplomatic failure of the Indian government? Have we accepted third-party mediation on the Kashmir issue? Is the Simla Agreement no longer valid? What promises were extracted from Pakistan?"

"Twenty-six lives were lost. Have they been caught? Have they been killed? If we have not killed or captured the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack, how can they (BJP) say that the Operation Sindoor is successful...Who is taking responsibility for the security lapses in Pahalgam, which the government has admitted at the last all-party meeting.... Is the home minister resigning?," Baghel said in response to a question on the BJP's claim that Operation Sindoo was a success.

Raising the demand for a special session of Parliament and an all-party meeting, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not attend the last two all-party meetings and that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge indicated that he would not attend such deliberations if the Prime Minister does not attend it.

Asked whether India should have taken a decisive action like taking over PoK, he said there was a mood among people for revenge and that PoK should also be captured. "This was a good opportunity. Parliament had adopted a resolution in 1994...In 1971, Indira Gandhi defeated Pakistan by rejecting pressure from America. We have learnt from Indira-ji that at the negotiating table with the enemy, we should show strength, not weakness," he said.