After India-Pakistan ceasefire, INDIA bloc divided on whether to attack Modi

In two successive all-party meetings held in New Delhi following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, a united opposition extended unconditional support to the Modi government. But as the dust began to settle after the May 10 ceasefire announcement between India and Pakistan, some leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance opened political fire.

Opposition politicians have since questioned the timing of the truce and the role of the United States in facilitating it. Even the issue of fixing accountability for alleged security lapses that led to the loss of 26 lives in Pahalgam is now being highlighted by members of the INDIA bloc.

Several INDIA parties have asked the government to hold another all-party meeting – this time with the prime minister in attendance – and convene a special session of Parliament to discuss these concerns.

However, others within the alliance have either remained silent or voiced their disagreement with these demands.

The lack of consensus shows that when it comes to national security issues, the opposition remains divided on how it should tackle the Bharatiya Janata Party. While national parties are willing to confront the ruling regime, some regional parties are wary of getting entangled in such debates.

Your yatra versus mine

The BJP, on its part, made its first major political move soon after the fighting between India and Pakistan stopped. On May 13, it launched a nationwide Tiranga Yatra to inform citizens about what it claims is the success of Operation Sindoor. A day later, the Congress party said it would seek transparency from the government through its own Jai Hind Yatra in as many as 15 Indian cities.

The Congress yatra had actually been announced last week to “boost the morale of the defence forces”, according to party spokesperson Ragini Nayak. But now that the hostilities have come to a halt, the party has repurposed it into a forum to seek answers to questions about Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor and the ceasefire.

In fact, since US President Donald Trump announced the truce, senior Congress functionaries have held daily news conferences in an attempt to corner the Modi government for seemingly yielding to foreign pressure.

“The country feels cheated, insulted and shamed by the way Trump has announced the ceasefire,” Bhupesh Baghel, former chief minister of Chhattisgarh, told reporters at one such conference on Monday. “Our head has been bowed.”

The senior Congressman went on to question the success of Operation Sindoor touted by the BJP, given that the terrorists responsible for the killings in Pahalgam are yet to be nabbed.

‘Trump is bullying us’

Aam Aadmi Party’s National Spokesperson Sanjay Singh echoed this criticism. He also attacked the Modi government for missing a “golden opportunity” to take back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

When Operation Sindoor was launched on May 7, Singh had sought American “support” in combating terrorism. However, after the ceasefire was announced, he began objecting to US involvement. He claimed Trump’s social media posts expressing hope for finding a “solution” to the Kashmir imbroglio had surprised him.

“How did the Kashmir issue come up?” Singh asked in a conversation with Scroll. “The American president is unilaterally insulting India. He is bullying us.”

Before the truce, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had supported Operation Sindoor and urged the Modi government to “ensure that no terrorist camps operate from [Pakistani] territory”. Now, however, the CPI(M) wants the government to come clean to the opposition on the role of the US, according to its leader John Brittas.

“We have been agitated over the statements of Donald Trump,” the Rajya Sabha MP told Scroll. “He may be a loud mouth but the government of India should say he is wrong. The audacity of the United States and its president to say that they have ‘brokered’ a deal between Pakistan and India, which was not countered – that is something very disquieting.”

Both the CPI(M) and AAP have joined the Congress in demanding an all-party meeting chaired by the prime minister and a special session of Parliament.

No consensus in sight

But some others in the opposition alliance have stayed quiet or aired their doubts about this approach.

“We don’t see these things politically,” said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the chairperson of the Trinamool Congress, on Wednesday. “I made no comments on this issue. And neither did I allow my party members to do so.”

Banerjee announced that her party will hold condolence and solidarity meetings across the state over the weekend as a gesture of respect for the armed forces. Several spokespersons of the Trinamool Congress did not respond to requests for comment.

Another seasoned politician who differed with his national allies is Sharad Pawar. The former defence minister of India expressed his ambivalence about discussing “sensitive” military operations in Parliament.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, an official from the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar explained their leader’s position. “Why dip our toes into something that has no relevance to the other issues we talk about?” he asked. “Local body elections [in Maharashtra] are coming up in three months – the sooner this dies down, the better.”

Even INDIA parties that formally support the demand for an all-party meeting and a special session of Parliament do not seem very enthused by the prospect that it will actually be held.

A Samajwadi Party leader, who requested that his name be withheld, said that is because national security issues have little bearing on the politics of Uttar Pradesh. If that changes, it is regional parties contesting against the BJP that stand to lose some ground.

‘Army of Bhasmasuras’

“We don’t want to take this up on the front foot because the conversation will become about the army again,” the Samajwadi Party leader admitted bluntly. “It is better for us to wait and see how the BJP will manage its own hardliners – this army of Bhasmasuras [self-destructive demons] that it has raised. We should not rush to the media and say anything that diverts attention from them.”

A spokesperson from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam shared a similar view. He argued that rather than questioning the strategic objectives achieved before the ceasefire, the opposition must challenge the BJP on what its supporters were doing.

The government, he alleged, had failed to speak up for Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who had addressed press conferences about Operation Sindoor. Misri was intensely trolled by ruling party supporters angered at the announcement of the ceasefire.

“For the BJP, right-wing trolls are more important than Indian officials,” the DMK’s Saravanan Annadurai said. “I think the BJP is going to get beaten in its own game.”

But for some opposition parties, such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the challenge is more imminent. Bihar, where the Rashtriya Janata Dal will go head-to-head with the BJP, is slated to go to polls later this year.

That is why Manoj Kumar Jha, who is a national spokesperson of the party, insisted that an all-party meeting is the only appropriate platform for discussing the conflict. He also hoped, albeit without much confidence, that the BJP would desist from showcasing the might of the India armed forces for political gain.

“Ideally, the BJP should call for a Tiranga Yatra in Washington, DC, and it should be under the leadership of the honourable prime minister,” Jha told Scroll. “It should convey to Mister Trump that he should mind his own business.”

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