Congress MP Rahul Gandhi (left) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi (File).
Rahul Gandhi's 'Narender, surrender' jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi - that Mr Modi had 'surrendered' in agreeing to a ceasefire, after the United States intervened, to end last month's military conflict with Pakistan - drew an angry response from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party Wednesday.
The BJP's Sudhanshu Trivedi labelled the Congress MP a "self-proclaimed, self-styled, supreme leader" and criticised him for casting aspersions on the Indian armed forces and the success of Operation Sindoor, the military's response to the Pahalgam terror attack of April 22.
"By making extremely cheap, low-level statements, the self-proclaimed, self-styled, supreme leader, the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, is telling the world that even after becoming the LoP, he lacks the seriousness and maturity that the post requires..." the BJP MP raged.
"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."
#WATCH | Delhi | On Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's statement, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi says, "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… pic.twitter.com/GQmjiRGk7P
— ANI (@ANI) June 4, 2025
On Tuesday Mr Gandhi, during a party event in Bhopal, declared the PM had 'surrendered' after a call from US President Donald Trump. "A call came from Trump and Narendraji immediately surrendered... Narendraji followed Trump saying 'Narender, surrender' by saying 'yes, sir'."
The Congress also shared a two-panel cartoon on X - the first showed Mr Trump yelling 'Narender, surrender' into the phone and the second showed Mr Modi saying 'yes, sir'.
READ | Rahul Gandhi's "Narendra Surrender" Jab At PM Modi, BJP Hits Back
The BJP had issued an immediate, but brief, response then; party spokesperson Tuhin Sinha told NDTV the remark showed Mr Gandhi "represents Pakistan's ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence)".
Trump's Ceasefire Claims
US President Trump has repeatedly claimed his administration played a key role in brokering a cessation of hostilities between India and Pak in May. Despite India firmly saying Trump had played no such role, the US President insisted he "sure as hell" helped and repeated his claim in a US court.
READ | Trump's Team Cite "Fragile" India-Pak Ceasefire To Justify Tariffs
India had warned Pak against retaliating to those strikes, making it clear that only terrorist camps and bases would be targeted. Pak, however, chose to ignore the warning and countered by firing armed drones and missiles at military and civilian centres in western India.
The missiles and drones were disabled by India's air defence system, and India launched counter-strikes of its own. Missiles and air strikes pounded both sides of the border for the next four days, till May 10, when Trump claimed he had negotiated a ceasefire.
Hours later India confirmed the ceasefire, but made it clear that it was Pakistan that had reached out to end hostilities and that there had been no pressure from the US, whether diplomatic or to do with ongoing talks over a trade deal with that country.
With input from agencies
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