The Ministry of External Affairs has refuted Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s remarks that India had informed Pakistan of Operation Sindoor in advance and put India at a disadvantage. It said that India had warned Pakistan in the early phase of the operation only after it began, calling Rahul Gandhi’s remarks a “misrepresentation of facts”.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had alleged that Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar himself admitted that India had informed Pakistan of the attack at the start and called it a “crime”.
In a video clip that Rahul Gandhi shared on Saturday, May 17, Jaishankar is heard saying, “At the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan saying we are striking at terrorist infrastructure, we are not striking at the military, so the military has an option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice.”
Rahul Gandhi called this a “crime”, suggesting that it could’ve put the Indian armed forces at a disadvantage and resulted in loss of aircraft.
“Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it. 1. Who authorised it? 2. How many aircraft did our airforce lose as a result?” he asked.
The Ministry of External Affairs has refuted Rahul Gandhi’s allegation, saying Jaishankar was talking about communication that happened only after Operation Sindoor began.
Jaishankar had stated that “we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Op Sindoor’s commencement”, MEA’s external publicity division said in a statement.
“This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out,” the ministry said.
The ministry stressed that India had issued a warning to Pakistan during the initial phase of Operation Sindoor—post-commencement—not beforehand.
The ministry said it condemned attempts to falsely represent this statement as evidence of prior notification.
The Press Information Bureau’s fact-checking unit also countered Rahul Gandhi’s remarks, saying Jaishankar’s words had been misquoted.
The unit said, “A social media post falsely implies from External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar’s statement that India informed Pakistan before Operation Sindoor commenced. EAM has been misquoted – he did not make this statement.”