When Pakistan Lies and Congress Amplifies. It’s official—Pakistan has declared victory. No, not in war, diplomacy, sports, or science. But in memes. Yes, memes. Attaullah Tarar, Pakistan’s ever-earnest Information Minister, has triumphantly announced that his country has won the “meme war.” While most nations pursue economic growth, defend borders, or explore space, Pakistan’s crowning achievement, it seems, is Photoshopped fiction gone viral. This might have been amusing—had it not been so tragic. Behind the chuckles lies a deeply cynical ecosystem of lies, half-truths, and dangerous amplifications. Take, for instance, the now-notorious episode where Pakistani state channels gleefully aired visuals from a Chinese PLA military drill, claiming it was the Pakistan Air Force raining destruction on Indian jets. The footage was neither Pakistani nor real. But then again, when did facts ever stop Islamabad’s fantasy factory? But what should truly concern Indians isn’t Pakistan’s juvenile antics—it’s what happened on this side of the border. The Indian National Congress and its allies, once the vanguard of national unity in wartime, gleefully lapped up Pakistan’s doctored content. Instead of calling out propaganda from a hostile state, they weaponised it against their government. Let that sink in: the principal Opposition party of the world’s largest democracy cheerleading enemy lies, to score a few cheap political points. At the height of the 2019 Balakot strikes—when Indian Air Force jets pounded terror infrastructure across the LoC—the Opposition was not rallying behind the nation. It was busy demanding “proof.” Not from Pakistan. From the Indian government. It was almost as if they were more anxious to shield Pakistan’s ego than support India’s soldiers. The tragicomedy didn’t stop there. Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh, never one to miss a foot-in-mouth moment, bizarrely likened his own party’s MPs, who were part of an official anti-terror diplomatic outreach, to terrorists of the Udhampur attack. If that was meant to be witty, it was a spectacular failure. If it was serious, it was disgraceful.
Now, Rahul Gandhi—the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty’s last political heir—has thrown in his own twist: that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “surrendered” to U.S. President Donald Trump. “Narendra-Surrender,” he quipped, evidently proud of his wordplay. Predictably, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister picked it up with glee, presenting it as evidence of yet another Pakistani “victory.” We’ve reached a point where Pakistan no longer needs a PR team; the Indian Opposition does the job. What does it say about our politics when Pakistan’s propaganda finds more resonance in Lutyens’ Delhi than in Lahore? What does it say about a party that once led India through wars with Pakistan, now becoming a megaphone for enemy narratives? For a party that claims to defend constitutional values, Congress seems remarkably indifferent to undermining national morale during times of conflict. The Balakot strikes were not ornamental. They were surgical, retaliatory, and decisive. Pakistan’s airspace was shut for weeks. Their military was shaken. And yes, a MiG-21 did go down—but not before shooting a Pakistani F-16 out of the sky, a fact later confirmed by none other than U.S. officials. Yet through all of this, who did the Congress choose to mock? Not the terror sponsors in Rawalpindi. Not the meme peddlers in PTV. But the Indian Armed Forces. So yes, let’s give Pakistan its meme medal. It can hang it next to its empty cricket trophies and rusting nuclear rhetoric. And let’s applaud the Congress too, for its new role as Pakistan’s preferred echo chamber. This isn’t opposition. It’s opportunistic sabotage. A cross-border collaboration in absurdity. To paraphrase Voltaire with an Indian twist: If Pakistan didn’t exist, the Indian Opposition might have had to invent it—just to have someone else to root for when India strikes back. So as Pakistan declares victory in its delusional meme war, maybe next it’ll submit a fake video for the Oscars. And Congress? They’ll probably host a press conference to celebrate it—with popcorn and patriotic betrayal.
