NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress on Wednesday engaged in a war of words over leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s “Narendra … surrender” jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While the saffron party declared Rahul of being too “immature to be an LoP”, the grand old party reiterated the “surrender” jibe at the prime minister further questioning his leadership.Calling it “cheap politics” on Operation Sindoor, BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “By making extremely cheap, low-level statements, the self-proclaimed, self-styled, supreme leader, the leader of opposition, Rahul Gandhi, is telling the world that even after becoming the LoP, he lacks seriousness and maturity that the post requires… How Rahul Gandhi compared our armed forces’ valour and army officers’ brief on Operation Sindoor’s success with surrender, shows how sick and dangerous his mentality has become.“Rahul sparked a controversy after he questioned the repeated claims made by Trump over mediation in India-Pakistan truce saying, “Trump gave a sign from there. He (Trump) picked up his phone and said, ‘Modiji, what are you doing? Narendra … Surrender.’ And PM Modi complied.”Though New Delhi has not explicitly refuted former Trump’s recent claims, the ministry of external affairs has reiterated that the India-Pakistan ceasefire was a purely bilateral decision. It also clarified that no trade-related discussions with the US have taken place in connection with Operation Sindoor.
‘Not even Masood Azhar or Hafiz Saeed … ‘
BJP compared Rahul to terrorists like Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed and said that even those “have not said such a thing”.“He has used such a word which even Pakistan’s Army, terrorist organisations, or UN-designated terrorists Masood Azhar or Hafiz Saeed have not used,” Trivedi said.He further accused accused Rahul of repeatedly undermining the country’s self-respect and the bravery of its armed forces.“The level of intelligence and wisdom of someone who sees receiving less than three points in their third attempt in the election result as a success, and sees being elected as the Prime Minister for the third time as a defeat is obvious… I want to ask the Congress party, has Rahul Gandhi insulted the Army by using the word surrender or not?” he said.
‘Narendra ka surrender ‘
Meanwhile, Congress accused the BJP of projecting false bravado, claiming the party spent 11 years crafting a narrative of strength akin to a film titled “Muqaddar Ka Sikandar”, only for it to end as “Narendra Ka surrender.”“BJP people were making a film for the last 11 years- ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’ But when the film was ready, it turned out to be ‘Narendra Ka Surrender’ Actually, there is no injection of bravery, but it is in the character of a person. The history of BJP-RSS people has been of cowardice. When such a person takes over the reins of the country, the future of the country comes in danger, which we are seeing at present,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said.“When the brave Indian Army had Pakistan on its knees, Trump called and Narendra Modi surrendered. Trump said many times that we got the ceasefire done by threatening with trade, but Narendra Modi has not replied to Trump till date. He will not even answer, because name is Narender, work is surrender – this is the reality and truth,” he added.