Patna: The Congress on Tuesday challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to refute US President Donald Trump’s claim that “intervention” by America had led to a “ceasefire” between India and Pakistan.
The opposition party’s social media head and spokesperson, Supriya Shrinate, who addressed a press conference at the Bihar Congress headquarters, also alleged that Modi’s “silence”, was indicative of his government’s “diplomatic failure”.
“The Congress had made it clear, soon after the Pahalgam terror attack, that it will support the government in whatever steps are taken. But why does the Prime Minister, who is so fond of addressing the nation every now and then, not call Trump’s bluff. Why does he not telephone the US President and register his protest if the latter is telling a lie,” Shrinate said.
She said, “We have had leaders like former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who did not get cowed down by the US threats of sending the Seventh Fleet and went ahead with the military operation that dismembered Pakistan and led to the creation of Bangladesh.”
In contrast, today a bankrupt Pakistan is being treated, internationally, like an equal to India. Trump has repeated his boasts of intervention leading to a ceasefire and claims of mediation between the two countries, at least nine times in the last 11 days. The silence of this government over the issue is a diplomatic failure, she said.
The Congress leader also criticised the Prime Minister for “taking time off for a rally in Bihar but making himself scarce at an all-party meeting convened to discuss the security situation after Pahalgam”.
“He also has plenty of time for visiting various parts of the country and rub shoulders with celebrities but is reluctant to convene a special session of the Parliament. He fears facing questions like why have the perpetrators of Pahalgam, who are said to have conducted more such dastardly attacks in the past, not been hunted down,” Shrinate alleged.
Talking about Bihar, she said it was a “failure” of the ruling JD(U)-BJP combine, which also shares power at the Centre, that the state has not been granted a special category status.
Referring to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), Shrinate remarked, “He collaborated with those who had once questioned his DNA. Today, the BJP, which does not have a majority in Parliament, is dependent on his support for surviving in power.”
Yet, he could secure neither special status nor a special package. On the other hand, the BJP, which does not have a face to project in Bihar nor an issue which could catch the public imagination, is slowly pulling the carpet from under his feet ahead of assembly polls, she said.
Shrinate was also asked about the “quest for justice” of Aishwarya, the estranged daughter-in-law of Congress ally Lalu Prasad, who recently expelled elder son Tej Pratap Yadav from his RJD.
Yadav and Aishwarya have been engaged in a divorce petition for years and the latter has accused her in-laws of connivance with her husband while enacting “a drama ahead of elections”.
“I do not wish to comment on anybody’s personal life. But I must say if we were to raise the issue of women married to political persons wronged by their husbands, we will have to speak about the Prime Minister as well as the Chief Minister of Bihar,” Shrinate replied.
The Congress leader also spoke at length about her party’s thrust on improving the lot of women in Bihar, calling them “the worst victims of poverty”, since “it is always the mother or the wife who goes to bed hungry when the food is sufficient only for husband and children”.
She also rubbished the NDA’s charge that Congress and RJD were involved in a “contest to claim credit in Bihar” by coming up with women-centric promises.
“We are going to fight the polls together. So we shall share the credit for whatever we achieve. It is the NDA that needs to set its own house in order. The BJP-led coalition is in turmoil,” the Congress leader said.
