The Opposition on Monday seized on US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of having brokered a “ceasefire” between India and Pakistan and his assertion that five jets had been downed during the conflict to corner the government during the Lok Sabha debate on Operation Sindoor.

The Opposition also took the government to task over its failure to prevent the Pahalgam terror attack.

Speaker after speaker from the Opposition pointed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on Trump’s claims, sweeping aside defence minister Rajnath Singh’s plea to ignore “relatively smaller issues” and his allegation that attempts were being made to divert attention from “national sentiments”.

Rajnath did not directly refer to Trump’s assertions but said any talk about India halting military action under external pressure was “totally baseless”.

“Some Opposition members have been asking, ‘How many of our aircraft were shot down?’ I feel their question does not adequately represent our national sentiments. They have not asked us how many enemy aircraft we shot down,” Rajnath told the House, kicking off the debate.

“If they must ask a question, it should be, ‘Did India destroy terrorist bases?’ And the answer to that is, ‘Yes’. They should ask, ‘Was Operation Sindoor a success?’ And the answer is, ‘Yes’. They should ask, ‘Were terrorist leaders killed?’ The answer is ‘Yes’,” he added.

Speaking after Rajnath, the Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi let loose a barrage of questions, forcing the Treasury benches into silence.

“Why was a ceasefire suddenly declared? We wanted to ask the Prime Minister, if Pakistan had been brought to its knees then why did we stop? Under whose pressure did we surrender?” Gogoi asked.

Modi was not present in the House. Rajnath and home minister Amit Shah sat quietly as the Congress leader spoke.

“The US President has claimed 26 times that he used trade to compel India and Pakistan to declare a ceasefire…. We want to know from the defence minister how many of our jets were downed? There are just 35 Rafale jets in India and if even one of them has been downed, I think it’s a big loss,” Gogoi said, stressing the need for the people and the armed forces to know the truth.

Intervening in the discussion later, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar sought to counter Trump’s claims by asserting that there had been no conversation between the US President and Modi between April 22, the day of the Pahalgam massacre, and June 17, when the two spoke over the phone.

Operation Sindoor was halted on May 10.

Gogoi referred to Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chauhan’s remarks in Singapore in May that “what is important is… not that the jet was shot down but why they were”, and asked that if armed forces officers could speak on such an issue outside the country, why couldn’t the government?

Trinamool’s Kalyan Banerjee too questioned Modi’s silence on Trump’s claim. “PM Modi, why couldn’t you post that whatever the American President said is incorrect?”

He suggested that Modi was afraid of Trump.

“The moment you stand in front of the American President, your height is reduced to 5ft and your chest is reduced to 36 inches from 56 inches. Why are you so afraid of the American President?” Banerjee asked.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant asked: “Why did the government not come up with one statement taking the name of Trump to deny his claim?”

The Sena MP also asked why the government had, by halting the military action, denied itself the opportunity to reclaim Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

“The government used to boast about reclaiming PoK. Now it’s saying India believes in Buddha and not ‘yudh’ (war). This was the best time to take back PoK. Why did we lose this opportunity?” Sawant said.

Gogoi said home minister Shah could not escape responsibility for the Pahalgam attack by “hiding behind” Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who recently acknowledged an intelligence failure in connection with the Pahalgam carnage.

“The home minister repeatedly claimed that abrogation of Article 370 had broken the back of terrorists and everything was normal in J&K. Despite his claims, terror strikes like those in Uri, Pulwama and now Pahalgam have taken place,” Gogoi said.

“Now, who takes responsibility for the Pahalgam attack, the lieutenant governor of J&K? No. If someone has to take responsibility, it is you, the home minister. The HM can’t hide behind the lieutenant governor,” he added, amid calls for Shah’s resignation.

Gogoi said the defence minister had spoken at length on Operation Sindoor but hadn’t uttered a word on how the terrorists had managed to reach Pahalgam and unleash one of the worst attacks.

Rajnath said India’s intention behind Operation Sindoor was not to launch a war against Pakistan but to destroy terror camps and avenge the Pahalgam attack.

Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi intervened to ask: “Why did we stop the war?”