Brig (retd) GB Reddi
It’s a recurring event now, like Delhi winters or IPL controversies — Rahul Gandhi opens his mouth, and facts go into hiding.
This Friday, the Congress party’s mascot for diplomatic naivety struck again. In a rather theatrical performance, Rahul Gandhi claimed that India’s foreign policy has “collapsed.” Yes, collapsed — like Congress’s seat count in most elections since 2014.
Targeting External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, the Rae Bareli MP asked why India was being “hyphenated” with Pakistan in global discussions. One would assume the scion of a party that gifted us decades of non-alignment-induced irrelevance would know a little about diplomatic nuance. Not.
Let’s start with the basics. If India today commands a distinct presence in the multipolar world — simultaneously friends with the US, Russia, the Arab world, Europe and even Israel — it’s because of Jaishankar’s deft diplomacy and Prime Minister Modi’s strategic clarity. These are not men tweeting empty platitudes from vacation homes in Europe. They are redrawing India’s place in the global order.
Let’s take stock. India is no longer seen through the ‘South Asia = India-Pakistan’ lens. It is a Quad member, hosts summits with African nations, signs critical tech deals with the West, and shapes BRICS+ and SCO narratives with equal confidence. China is exposed. Pakistan is isolated. And the only “collapse” visible is Rahul Gandhi’s grasp of facts.
But wait, there’s more.
In what can only be described as foreign policy fan fiction, Rahul Gandhi wondered aloud why “no country supported India during the recent conflict.” Conflict? Which one, dear Rahul? The one the Congress forgot to read about or the one Pakistan tried to hush up?
Let’s rewind. Post-Balakot airstrikes, which followed the Pulwama terror attack, India received global acknowledgment, not condemnation, for its right to self-defence. And when the Pakistani DGMO went scurrying to the Americans to broker calm, it was he who pleaded for restraint, not the Indian side.
Donald Trump may have claimed to offer mediation, perhaps between golf swings, but both New Delhi and Washington’s own officials clarified that it was Pakistan who came begging. India didn’t request any ceasefire. Prime Minister Modi made it abundantly clear: any further misadventure by Pakistan would be treated not as provocation, but as war. A red line that even Islamabad’s usually hyperactive ISPR dared not cross again.
And then, Rahul asked the big question — Why did Jaishankar inform Pakistan about military action in advance?
Ah. The “gotcha” moment. Except it wasn’t. What Rahul failed to mention — or perhaps didn’t know — is that a 1991 military confidence-building measure, formalised under Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1994, requires both countries to notify each other of troop movements, large-scale military exercises, and airspace use near borders. Yes, a Congress-era protocol, not some Modi-era secret pact.
Jaishankar, ever the composed professional, merely followed long-established norms. Rahul, in his trademark style, twisted facts faster than his party changes allies before elections.
But here’s the real kicker: while Rahul Gandhi was busy questioning India’s right to retaliate, Pakistani senators in their own Parliament admitted that Indian airstrikes took out nine of their air bases and multiple terror camps. Yes, Pakistani lawmakers are more honest about India’s success than India’s Opposition leader. Let that sink in.
And when it came time to tell India’s story abroad, the Modi government didn’t send party loyalists who read from chits. Instead, they dispatched seven bipartisan delegations of parliamentarians to 130+ countries, detailing how India’s strikes were pre-emptive, precise, and based on irrefutable evidence of cross-border terror camps. That’s called diplomatic offensive, not the “strategic silence” Congress once used when bombs went off in Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi.
Which brings us to the big question: Whose side is Rahul Gandhi on? Because when your own soldiers are risking lives and your government is fighting global disinformation, the last thing India needs is its Opposition leader echoing Pakistani talking points and doubting Indian resolve on the global stage.
Perhaps Rahul Gandhi should spend less time in manufactured outrage and more time reading the history of his party, not the whitewashed version. If he did, he’d know that foreign policy isn’t a cocktail of Twitter gaffes, old socialist slogans, and the misplaced belief that India is forever a junior partner on the world stage.
This is New India. Assertive. Informed. Respected.
And it certainly has no time for amateur hour — especially not from someone who still believes foreign policy is what you discuss at Davos over cheese platters.
