Responding to the criticism, the Ministry of External Affairs clarified that the facts were being 'falsely' represented. Meanwhile, the Press Information Bureau debunked the video that Gandhi had shared on social media supporting his claim, pointing out that Jaishankar was 'misquoted'.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has admitted that the Indian government "informed" Pakistan about targeting terror infrastructure as part of Operation Sindoor and questioned, 'who had authorised it'.
Responding to the criticism, the Ministry of External Affairs clarified that the facts were being 'falsely' represented. Meanwhile, the Press Information Bureau debunked the video that Gandhi had shared on social media supporting his claim, pointing out that Jaishankar was 'misquoted'.
The BJP on Saturday accused Rahul Gandhi of serving as a "propaganda tool" of Pakistan and spreading "fake news".
The Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement on Saturday evening and said facts were being falsely represented.
the External Publicity division of the ministry stated, "The External Affairs Minister had stated that we had warned Pakistan at the start, which is clearly the early phase after Op Sindoor's commencement. This is being falsely represented as being before the commencement. This utter misrepresentation of facts is being called out."
The PIB Fact Check Unit had said that this social media post falsely implied from the Jaishankar's statement that India had informed Pakistan before the start of Operation Sindoor.
"EAM is being misquoted and he has not made this statement," it had said, asking people to remain "vigilant" and avoid "falling for deceptive information".
In a post on X, Gandhi questioned External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar for publicly admitting that the government of India (GOI) had informed Pakistan of the action and asked how many aircraft the Indian Air Force lost as a result.
"Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it. Who authorised it? How many aircraft did our air force lose as a result?" said Gandhi, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha.
He also shared an undated video of Jaishankar saying India had informed Pakistan of the action against terror infrastructure on its soil.
Jaishankar can be heard saying in the video, "At the start of the operation, we had sent a message to Pakistan, saying, 'We are striking at terrorist infrastructure and we are not striking at the military.'" "So the military has the option of standing out and not interfering in this process. They chose not to take that good advice," the minister can be heard saying in the clip.
"Stop spreading fake news, Rahul Gandhi," Bhandhari wrote on X.
He also posted a screenshot of the government's PIB Fact Check unit's post on X which had rejected a similar claim earlier this week, as "misleading".
"Old habits die hard. Rahul Gandhi who was partying after the 26/11 Mumbai Terror attack, and who was officially quoted by Pakistani military in its press conference is back to question our forces," Bhandari charged in another post on X.
"Is Congress unhappy that Operation Sindoor demolished terror infrastructure in Pakistan," he asked.
Slamming Gandhi for his remarks, another BJP national spokesperson Ajay Alok accused the Congress leader of speaking for Pakistan and asked him to "stop being a propaganda tool of Pakistan".
"You have been doing this for the last three generations," Alok said in a video message on X, reacting to Gandhi's remarks.