Sudhanshu Trivedi, the BJP spokesperson, compared opposition party leaders to the Pakistani Army on Monday.

The BJP alleged on Monday that the Congress party and its allies were acting like a “fifth column” aimed at lowering the morale of the Indian armed forces. This accusation followed a statement by Ajay Rai, the Congress president in Uttar Pradesh, who mocked the government by showing a toy Rafale jet after the recent Pahalgam terror attack.

BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi criticised Congress for claiming they supported the government's response to the Pahalgam attack. He said their support was fake.

Trivedi said opposition parties could be compared to the Pakistani Army. He said Pakistan attacks Indian soldiers by violating the ceasefire at the border, while opposition leaders target them with their words from within the country.

Ajay Rai displayed a toy model of the Rafale fighter jet, with lemons and chillies tied to it — a ritual believed to ward off bad luck. He asked, “They remain parked with lemon and chillies tied to them. When will they be put to use?”

Trivedi said Rai mocked Hindu religious practices through this act. He claimed Congress had such negative energy that even aircraft needed protection from their “evil eyes.” He said the Indian armed forces respect religious sentiments. He added that the forces have spiritual leaders and chant slogans like “Bolo Bajrangbali ki jai” and “Raja Ram Chandra ki jai” in their regiments.

Further, he said Rai’s remarks were just one of many such comments made by opposition leaders, and they hurt the morale of the armed forces. He said, “Rarely do you see Pakistani leaders attacking their own army in Indian media. But it is often the Indian opposition leaders who get quoted in Pakistan when they criticise the Indian military or government.”

Trivedi said the Indian Army was far stronger than Pakistan’s. He said Narendra Modi had shown strong leadership. But he also said Pakistan’s leaders speak in one voice, while India’s opposition lacks unity.

He called Congress’s claim of support after the Pahalgam attack hypocritical. He compared it to how Pakistan talks about peace while secretly supporting terrorism. He said the Congress’s true face had been exposed. He added, “The Congress and the INDI Alliance have become like a fifth column.”

He repeated the Prime Minister’s statement that those behind the Pahalgam attack “will be pursued till the ends of the earth” and punished “beyond their imagination.”

He also said Congress governments had failed in diplomacy, while the Modi government had shown strength in both diplomacy and military action. He referred to the 2008 incident when former Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major said the Air Force was ready to strike after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, but the Congress-led UPA government decided not to act.

He stated that despite Pakistan’s support for terrorism, the UPA government under Manmohan Singh kept engaging with Pakistan. He said the Modi government had firmly refused to hold formal talks with Pakistan.

He reminded people that when former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called Manmohan Singh a “dehati aurat” (village woman), Modi — then Gujarat’s Chief Minister — defended Singh. He also recalled that in the 1990s, BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee strongly supported the Congress government’s position against Pakistan-backed terrorism at the United Nations.