Rahul Gandhi slams S Jaishankar of alerting Pakistan ahead of Operation Sindoor

Congress leader and Lok Sabha Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the Modi government over external affairs minister S Jaishankar’s reported statement that India had informed Pakistan at the outset of Operation Sindoor. Gandhi called the act a "crime" and demanded answers about who authorised such communication.

Rahul Gandhi, in a post on X, questioned whether such advance intimation to Pakistan resulted in the loss of any Indian Air Force aircraft. “Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that the Government of India did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result?” he wrote.

He also shared a video in which Jaishankar is seen stating that the Indian government had conveyed to Pakistan that the military was not being targeted, and only terror infrastructure was the focus. According to the minister in the video, Pakistan was given the option to stay out of the conflict, but chose not to heed the message.

The controversy stems from this video, which Rahul Gandhi claims proves that the Modi government tipped off Pakistan about India's tactical moves. However, the government pushed back on the claim. The Press Information Bureau's fact-check unit stated that Jaishankar was misquoted and had not said India informed Pakistan in advance of the airstrikes.

Operation Sindoor was India’s retaliatory offensive following the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 26 civilians. The Indian military targeted terror camps located in Pakistan’s Punjab province and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) between May 7 and May 10.

The issue has now triggered a political storm, with opposition leaders alleging security lapses and demanding full transparency from the Centre over the conduct of the military operation.