Pahalgam terror attack: Congress is speaking the language of Pakistan, say BJP and allies

Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies on Tuesday (April 29, 2025) intensified their attack on the Congress party, over the remarks of some of its leaders on the Pahalgam terror attack and a pictorial post made through the party’s official X handle apparently projecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi as having “disappeared at a time for responsibility”.

Responding to the post, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said: “When our Prime Minister is leading the fight against terrorism strongly, why does Congress have such a low opinion about the Prime Minister? How low will Congress stoop! I abhor this Congress party’s antics!”

Former Union Minister and MP Anurag Thakur said: “Pakistan is a country which has a terrorist fund in its state policy. Pakistan enjoys shedding the blood of people… What is the compulsion for Congress and its leaders that they have to speak the language of Pakistan? Can they not see the blood of innocent citizens in the terrorist attacks against India?”

Accusing the Congress of defending Pakistan repeatedly, Mr. Thakur said former Union Minister Saifuddin Soz was “supporting the statement of Pakistan in which it is saying that it has no role in the attack”. “Should we now believe the explanation of Pakistan?” he asked.

He also criticised the purported statements of some Congress leaders doubting the testimonies of Pahalgam attack survivors that the terrorists asked the religion of the victims before gunning them down. “This is not the first time the mentality of Congress’s ‘love for Pakistan’ has come to the fore. Several Congress leaders have given such statements from time to time which are in the interest of Pakistan, rather than India,” said Mr. Thakur.

Also read | Speaking in favour of Pakistan after Pahalgam killings not right, Pawan Kalyan warns Congress

Shiv Sena parliamentary party chairman Shrikant Shinde said: “The Congress party must first set its own house in order. Before making noise about convening a Parliament session, the party must urgently call an All India Congress Committee (AICC) session to clarify its stand on the deeply offensive statements made by its senior leaders — statements that mock the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and echo the narrative of Pakistan.”

“The Congress party owes the nation answers. Does it stand with the victims of terror or with those making excuses for terrorists? This hypocrisy cannot be whitewashed. India deserves a strong, united political response to terror — not a fractured, confused, and appeasement-driven narrative. If the Congress party cannot take a clear moral stand on this, it has no business demanding accountability from anyone else,” he said.

Also read | BJP slams Congress for ‘sar tan se juda’ imagery aimed at Prime Minister Modi

Earlier, at a press conference, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia alleged that the pictorial post — which shows a kurta pyjama with a pair of black shoes, matching the Prime Minister’s usual attire, but without a body — was a “sar tan se juda” [head without body] imagery and was meant to send out a signal to Pakistan that the Congress was with them.

“This is an attempt by Congress to weaken India in this crucial time,” he alleged.