Launching a blistering attack on the opposition over national security and diplomatic matters, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of relying on the Chinese ambassador’s “briefing” during the 2017 Doklam standoff. Jaishankar was reacting to the opposition’s questions on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing monsoon session in Parliament. Also referring to US President Donald Trump’s “curfew” claims to end the India-Pakistan military standoff, he said he was rather surprised that the opposition chooses what other countries have to say over India’s elected foreign minister. “The leader of the opposition did not take a briefing from the government or the MEA (ministry of external affairs), but from the Chinese ambassador during Doklam. It is surprising that they do not choose to listen to the elected foreign minister of the country, but wants to listen to the people from other countries,” Jaishankar said while addressing Parliament. Jaishankar further attacked the opposition, questioning how it has the “temerity” to question the government that “brought down Bahawalpur and Muridke terror sites”. On “warnings” over “China-Pakistan collaboration”, he asked what the previous governments were doing when “this has been going on for 60 years”. “The opposition lectures us on dealing with China but they allowed 2G and 3G from China; our government made indigenous 5G. I did not go to China for the Olympics, secret deals (in another aside to Rahul Gandhi); we went there to make India’s stand clear on terror, trade and de-escalation,” he said. “We are getting warnings about Pak-China collaboration, when this has been going on for 60 years.” But he did not stop at this. He taunted the Congress for claiming to be “custodians of national security” but not doing anything while it was in office. “It is very easy for anyone to sit and keep commenting, but they should be prepared to listen to the truth. You should very politely explain to the opposition leaders that they need to sit down and listen…if our members get excited, we will not be able to stop them. We had 60 years of neglect on India’s borders, which has been reversed today…our border infrastructure has gone up four times,” he added. Jaishankar’s remarks came after Congress deputy leader in the House, Gaurav Gogoi severely criticised the Centre over Trump’s claim made “26 times”, that he used trade to bring about a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. The Congress has been repeatedly attacking the Narendra Modi-led government over Trump’s remarks. Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire after a long night of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim on several occasions that he helped settle the tensions between the two neighbours. India has, however, consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMO) of the two armed forces. In a nearly 35-minute phone call with Trump last month, Modi said India does not and will “never accept” mediation and that the discussions between Indian and Pakistani militaries on cessation of actions were initiated at Islamabad’s request. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack that claimed 26 lives. The two countries reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes. (With PTI inputs)