Congress divided over Rahul Gandhi's 'Narender surrender' remark. Shashi Tharoor says 'India never asked anyone'

The grand old Congress party is a divided house over Rahul Gandhi's viral 'Narender surrender' remark on Operation Sindoor. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is currently leading a delegation to represent India in the US following Operation Sindoor, said that the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan was not a result of any third-party intervention. 

Commenting on Rahul's reference to Trump's repeated claims of brokering peace between the two nuclear-armed nations, Tharoor said that India is prepared to use force in the future as well if any terrorist attacks emanate from Pakistan. 

"We have no real difficulty speaking the same language as the Pakistanis, as long as they use the language of terrorism. We will use the language of force, and that doesn't require a third party," he said.

He further said that he was not interested in harping on such details as, according to him, India shares a "much more important strategic partnership" with the US. "We have enormous respect for the US," he added.

On Tuesday, the Gandhi scion stirred quite the hornet's nest with his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at an event in Bhopal, Rahul claimed that PM Modi "surrendered" after a phone call from US President Donald Trump. 

He added that Trump instructed Modi to surrender, and Modi complied with a "Ji Huzoor" in the middle of Operation Sindoor. Furthermore, he said that former PM Indira Gandhi never backed down in 1971 despite pressure from the US. 

A day after Rahul accused PM Modi of "surrendering" to Trump, BJP national president J P Nadda accused the Wayanad MP of "treason" as well as insulting the valour and courage of the armed forces. 

“Rahul Gandhi calling the unmatched valour and courage of the Indian Army a ‘surrender’ is not only unfortunate but also a grave insult to the Indian Army, the nation and 140 crore Indians. If any Pakistani had said this, we would have laughed at him, but after the way Operation Sindoor wreaked havoc in Pakistan, no one from the people of Pakistan to its army and even its Prime Minister dared to say this, but Rahul Gandhi is saying this! This is nothing less than treason,” Nadda said.

He added that the Indian Army entered 300 km into Pakistan and destroyed 11 of its airbases, demolished 9 terrorist bases, and killed more than 150 terrorists as part of Operation Sindoor.

India launched precision strikes under the codename Operation Sindoor on May 7 as a response to the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed the lives of 26 people. 

He added that surrender was both in the Congress' dictionary as well as its DNA while citing past instances where India was on backfoot while dealing with terrorism. 

“Rahul Gandhi, you should remember the tenure of your party’s governments and how you ‘surrendered’ in history. You surrendered to terrorism, surrendered in Sharm-el-Sheikh, surrendered at the table in Shimla after winning the 1971 war, surrendered in the Indus Water Treaty, surrendered Haji Pir Pass, surrendered 160 km area of Chhamb sector, surrendered in the 1962 war, surrendered in 1948 and even surrendered to the Muslim League at the time of independence of the country,” Nadda claimed.