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In a post on X, Kiren Rijiju took a poetic jibe at Congress with a reference from Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s Rashmirathi.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and Congress leader Pawan Khera. (File)
BJP vs Congress: Amid the ongoing political slugfest between the Congress and the BJP over Rahul Gandhi’s allegations that the government had pre-informed Pakistan about Operation Sindoor, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday took a veiled jibe at the grand old party with Pawan Khera hitting back at the government.
In a post on X, Rijiju took a poetic jibe at Congress with a reference from Ramdhari Singh Dinkar’s Rashmirathi. In the post, Rijiju quoted Rashmirathi and said, “Jab naash manuj par aata hai, pehle vivek mar jata hai” (When doom descends upon a man, his reason is the first to perish).
“जब नाश मनुज पर छाता है, पहले विवेक मर जाता है”- रामधारी सिंह दिनकर की एक प्रसिद्ध कविता की पंक्ति। इसका अर्थ है कि जब व्यक्ति पर विनाश की स्थिति आ जाती है, तो उसका विवेक पहले ही नष्ट हो जाता है।— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) May 19, 2025
“A famous line from a poem by Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. It means that when a person faces a state of destruction, their reason is already destroyed,” he added.
Congress Reacts
Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera responded to Rijiju questioning his cryptic post.
“Why are you sending a message to your own boss through Twitter, brother?” Khera replied.
अपने ही बॉस को ट्विटर के माध्यम से संदेश क्यों दे रहे हो बंधु? https://t.co/2Bin8SJbRo— Pawan Khera 🇮🇳 (@Pawankhera) May 19, 2025
What’s The Row?
In a press conference on Monday, the senior Congress leader accused the government of pre-informing Pakistan about Operation Sindoor, the Indian strikes on terror targets in Pakistan and PoK in aftermath of last month’s Pahalgam terror attack.
Reiterating Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi’s claim, Khera asked, “If he (EAM Jaishankar) had not forewarned Pakistan, could terrorists like Azhar Masood and Hafiz Sayeed have escaped?”
The Lok Sabha LoP on Saturday shared an undated video of EAM Jaishankar in which he was heard saying that at the start of Operation Sindoor, a message was sent to Pakistan that only terror bases were being struck.
While sharing the video, Gandhi wrote, “Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI (government of India) did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result.”
On Monday, Gandhi launched a fresh attack on EAM saying his silence on the number of aircraft India “lost” after Pakistan was “informed” about the military action under Operation Sindoor is “damning”.
BJP Responds To Rahul Gandhi
Union minister Pralhad Joshi attacked Gandhi saying he misquoted the MEA.
“Rahul Gandhi seems to have learned nothing from his past mistakes. He continues to disrespect the Nation’s Armed Forces by questioning how many jets were lost — despite clear statements from the IAF and MEA confirming there were no asset losses.
“He misquotes the MEA, even though the DGMO clarified in his May 11 briefing that India had made efforts to communicate with its counterparts. Is the Congress party truly serious about supporting the nation? Their actions suggest otherwise,” Joshi said in a post on X.
Centre’s Stand
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has also said that a statement on the timing of Pakistan being informed was being falsely represented.
“We had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Operation Sindoor’s commencement. This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out,” the MEA had said.
Operation Sindoor
India launched “precision strikes” under Operation Sindoor on nine terror targets in Pakistan and PoK following the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. The strikes killed at least 10 family members of JeM chief Masood Azhar and four close aides.
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