E-Paper
‘Why do you keep lying?’ Kiren Rijiju rips into Rahul Gandhi after IAF chief's ‘full freedom’ remark
Rahul Gandhi had said in the Parliament that the hands of the Indian Air Force were “tied” by the government during Operation Sindoor.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has accused Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, of ‘lowering his stature’ and ‘damaging “India’s high reputation” over his remarks regarding the Indian Air Force and Operation Sindoor in the Parliament.
Rahul Gandhi had said in the Parliament that the hands of the Indian Air Force were “tied” by the government during Operation Sindoor as they were told not to attack Pakistan's air defence systems.
Refuting this claim, the Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Amar Preet Singh said on Saturday that the government had put no restrictions on them during Operation Sindoor and they had “full freedom” to plan and execute attacks during the operation.
Sharing a video of Rahul Gandhi's remarks in the Parliament during th discussion over the operation and IAF chief's rebuttal of it, Kiren Rijiju wrote on X, “I request Rahul Gandhi ji to maintain the decorum of India's Parliament. Why do you keep lying all the time? I have witnessed many Leaders of Opposition who had maintained Parliamentary standards. You have not only lowered your stature but damaged India's high reputation!”
What Rahul Gandhi said in Lok Sabha
During the discussion on Operation Sindoor in the monsoon session of the Parliament, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Air Force was told not to attack Pakistan's air defence systems, which in a way means that their “hands were tied”.
“You went into Pakistan, you attacked Pakistan, and you told our pilots do not attack their air defence systems, meaning you told our pilots go and attack and face the air defence systems of Pakistan. Meaning, you tied their hands behind their backs," Gandhi is heard saying in the video shared by Rijiju.
What IAF chief said
While addressing the 16th Air Chief Marshal LM Katre Memorial Lecture in Bengaluru on August 9, IAF chief Amar Preet Singh said that the government put no restrictions on them during the operation.
Talking about the reasons behind Operation Sindoor's success, the IAF chief said that one of them was “political will”.
“There was very clear political will, very clear directions were given to us and there were no kind of restrictions which were put on us,” he said.
Without naming anyone, Singh said, “Many people have spoken somewhere unfortunately, every one is speaking about it…there were talks about was there any restriction, were you kept constraint. It there were any constraints, they were self made.”
“We, the forces, decided what will be our rules of engagement. We, the forces, decided what will be the escalation ladder that we want to ride on. We decided how we want to control th escalation. So I want to make it very clear, there were no, I repeat, no restrictions on us. Full freedom was given to us to plan and execute."
