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Congress extends ‘full support’ to armed forces, cancels all party events in solidarity of Operation Sindoor

Saying LoPs of both Houses will participate in Thursday’s all-party meeting, Jairam Ramesh urges PM Modi to attend

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Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Party General Secretary KC Venugopal during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, at party headquarters, 24 Akbar Road, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Source: ANI Photo)

Hours after India targeted terror camps inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as a part of Operation Sindoor, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, met on Wednesday and declared “full support” to the armed forces saying it was “time to be united”.

As a mark of solidarity with the armed forces, the Congress has also decided to halt all planned party programmes, including “Samvidhan Bachao” rallies in various states. A leader who attended the meeting said the decision was taken based on AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s suggestion. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and AICC general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal were also present in the meeting.

“During the meeting held today, it was decided to pause all scheduled party programs, including Samvidhan Bachao Rallies, standing in complete solidarity with our armed forces during this critical hour,” Venugopal said in a post of X after the meeting.

Sources told The Indian Express that Vadra said that the party’s message of solidarity with the armed forces “must reach every state and district leadership across the country”.

“She also said party leaders must not stray away from the party line and exercise extreme caution while speaking about the security situation and the strikes conducted by the armed forces,” a source said.

Speaking to mediapersons at the party’s Akbar Road office, Kharge said the meeting was called over the steps being taken by the government in response to the incident (Pahalgam terror attack) that happened in the country. “We are proud of our armed forces, which gave a befitting reply by taking bold and decisive action against terror bases in Pakistan and PoK. We salute the courage, determination and patriotism of our brave soldiers,” he added.

Pointing out that the Congress had firmly stood with the armed forces and the government while supporting every action against cross-border terrorism since the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, Kharge said, “There are no differences on this issue. We are working together to protect the country in the same way that the INDIA bloc members are doing in their respective areas.”

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Urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend Thursday’s all-party meeting called by the Centre, Ramesh said, “He (Modi) did not attend the all-party meeting on April 24 despite our requests. However, LoPs of both Houses will participate in tomorrow’s meeting.”

Asad Rehman

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More

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