Parts of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the Lok Sabha during the debate on Operation Sindoor were expunged on Monday after he directly blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the recent terror attack in Pahalgam and questioned the intent behind the military operation, indirectly giving clean chit to Pakistan.
Invoking Rule 380 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, the Speaker ordered the removal of portions of Gandhi’s speech deemed unparliamentary, including a controversial line accusing the Prime Minister of having “the blood of the people of Pahalgam on his hands.”
Addressing the House, Gandhi claimed that the 22-minute-long Operation Sindoor was not a demonstration of India’s military resolve, but an image management exercise aimed at shielding the Prime Minister from criticism following the Pahalgam ambush.
“When we say that we do not want escalation, it means मैंने एक थप्पड़ मारा, दूसरा नहीं मारूंगा, तीसरा नहीं मारूंगा, चौथा नहीं मारूंगा, (maine ek thappad maara, doosra nahi maaroonga, teesra nahi maaroonga, chautha nahi maaroonga – I slapped once, I will not slap second, third, fourth)” Gandhi said. “Why? It is because the goal of this exercise was to protect the Prime Minister’s image. Since he has the blood of the people of Pahalgam on his hands, the goal of the exercise was to make sure that he uses the Air Force to protect his image.”
Gandhi also challenged Prime Minister Modi to publicly contradict former US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he had personally mediated an India-Pakistan ceasefire. “If he has the courage, if he has the courage of Indira Gandhi, let him say here, ‘Donald Trump, you are a liar.’”
The Speaker intervened after members of the ruling party protested. The official Lok Sabha record notes that references to the Prime Minister’s culpability in the Pahalgam attack, as well as Gandhi’s implication that the operation was carried out for political optics, were ordered to be removed from the record. A specific reference flagged as expunged includes the phrase: “Since he has the blood of the people of Pahalgam on his hands…”
Reference that can be construed as RAHUL GANDHI'S "cleanchit" to Pak EXPUNGED.
"Since he has the blood of the people of Pahalgam on his hands…" will not be taken on the record. pic.twitter.com/s0EzrWc0S1— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) July 30, 2025
This essentially is a clean chit to Pakistan and comes days after senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, during a separate media interaction, was seen indirectly absolving Pakistan of responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, comments the Congress later defended as being misinterpreted.
It is noteworthy that the Indian Army eliminated the 3 terrorists responsible for the dastardly Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 Hindu tourists in Baisaran Valley via Operation Mahadev. The Home Minister Amit Shah shared details of how they established the fact that the terrorists were Pakistanis with the help of their belongings – Pakistani voter ID and some Pakistan-made chocolates, etc.
(With inputs from Economic Times)
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