As Parliament gears up for a 16-hour debate on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, starting Monday in Lok Sabha and Tuesday in Rajya Sabha, the Congress has sharply criticized the Modi government, spotlighting U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of halting the India-Pakistan conflict. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh called the debate, long demanded by his party, “better late than never,” but slammed the government for ignoring earlier calls for a special session post-Operation Sindoor’s abrupt halt on May 10.

The Pahalgam attack on April 22, 2025, killed 26 civilians, yet the perpetrators, linked to prior attacks in Poonch (Dec 2023) and Gangagir-Gulmarg (Oct 2024), remain at large, Ramesh noted. He highlighted a series of revelations: Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan admitted tactical errors in Operation Sindoor’s initial days during a May 30 Singapore interview; on June 29, India’s Defence Attaché in Indonesia, Group Captain Shiv Kumar, suggested political decisions hampered operations and hinted at aircraft losses; and on July 4, Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Rahul R Singh revealed India’s unexpected clashes with China in hardware and software during the operation.

Ramesh also pointed to Jammu & Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha’s July 14 admission of the Pahalgam attack as a “security failure.” Most controversially, Trump has claimed 26 times since May 10 that he stopped Operation Sindoor by threatening to cut trade with India, even alleging five fighter jets were downed, without specifying whose. He hosted Pakistan’s Army Chief for lunch, an unprecedented move, while U.S. officials praised Pakistan’s counter-terrorism role.

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Congress accuses the Modi government’s media managers of fueling “outlandish” domestic narratives around Operation Sindoor, which found little traction abroad. With the debate aiming to restore parliamentary normalcy after a disrupted first week, the opposition demands clarity on intelligence lapses, aircraft losses, and Trump’s claims of U.S. mediation, which India denies, insisting the ceasefire was bilateral.

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