Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 28: Parliament saw a fierce face-off between the Centre and the Opposition during a marathon discussion on Monday on “Operation Sindoor” launched in May against terror bases in Pakistan in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed in cold blood.
Leading the Opposition charge was the deputy leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, who questioned the success of Operation Sindoor. “They (Centre) said we attacked them inside their homes. But, they are also saying that Operation Sindoor is incomplete because Pakistan can do it again in the future. They said it themselves. Then how was the operation a success?” asked Mr Gogoi.
Cornering the Centre, the Congress MP said, “They are saying our intention was not war, was it not so? They say it was not to take territory. Why was it not? When will we take back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, if not today, then when?”
Mr Gogoi’s attack was based on the remarks made by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who while opening the special debate on Pahalgam terror strikes and Operation Sindoor, said India halted the operation only after achieving “all the political and military objectives set before and during the mission.” “The notion that the operation was stopped under any pressure is baseless,” Mr Singh said amid sloganeering from the Opposition benches.
The statement was in response to claims repeatedly made by the US president Donald Trump that US mediation forced an understanding between India and Pakistan. “On May 10, the Pakistan DGMO requested the Indian counterpart and pleaded for relief. It was only after this that the Armed Forces took the call to stop,” he said.
Later totally negating Mr Trump’s repeated assertions, the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar claimed on Monday that no telephonic conversation was held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President from April 22 to June 17. Jaishankar’s remarks came as the opposition alleged that India ended the military conflict with Pakistan under Trump’s pressure. “There was no call between PM Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump from April 22, when Trump called up to convey sympathy and to June 17, when he called up PM in Canada to explain why he couldn’t meet him,” Jaishankar said in the Lok Sabha.
India launched precision strikes under Operation Sindoor on May 7 on nine terror camps in Pakistan and PoK in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. After India’s strikes, Pakistan retaliated, leading to a military conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours over the next three days.
Mr Gogoi also reiterated the opposition’s demand, asking the government to clarify how many Indian jets were downed during Operation Sindoor. “There are just 35 Rafales in the country, and if some have been downed, then it’s a big loss,” he said.
Rajnath Singh, earlier, criticised the opposition for its queries on the losses during the operation, asserting these questions “do not represent our national sentiments.” “A few members of the opposition have been asking… ‘how many of our aircraft were shot down?’ I feel their question does not adequately represent our national sentiments. They have not asked us how many enemy aircraft we shot down,” the Defence Minister began.
On May 7, India woke up to the news of “focused, measured and non-escalatory” strikes of the Armed Forces on the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Nine terror launchpads were targeted within 25 minutes in the operation. The mission was named ‘Operation Sindoor’ – a codename to avenge the widows of the April 22 attack, wherein 26 civilians – all men – were killed in cold blood by terrorists linked to an offshoot of Lashkar-e-Taiba.
After four days of fighting, India and Pakistan reached an agreement to stop firing on May 10. Within hours, however, the deal was breached by Pakistan. It was responded to with a stern warning by the Armed Forces the next day: “India would retaliate fiercely to any violation in future.”
Mr Rajnath Singh trained his guns on the Opposition for questioning gains of the “Operation Sindoor” saying the bloc never asked the “right” questions. “It is the Opposition’s job to ask the government important questions related to public issues. Sometimes, our opposition members kept asking how many of our planes were shot down, but they never asked how many Pakistani planes our forces had shot down. If you want to ask questions, then ask if any of our soldiers were harmed in this operation. The answer is no,” Singh said.
He added: “If you want to ask a question, then ask this: The terrorists who wiped off the sindoor (vermilion) of our sisters and daughters—did our armed forces, through Operation Sindoor, eliminate the masterminds of those terrorists? The answer is: Yes. Ultimately, the result matters. All goals were achieved.”
Explaining the purpose of Operation Sindoor, Singh said it was not to cross the border or capture a territory. “The purpose of initiating Operation Sindoor was to destroy the terror nurseries nurtured by Pakistan. The aim was to provide justice to the families who lost their loved ones in the Pahalgam terror attack.
The operation’s politico-military objective was to punish Pakistan, fighting a proxy war in the name of terrorism. Therefore, armed forces were given a free hand to choose their targets and give a befitting reply. The objective was not to initiate a war.”
Though Singh refrained from naming any leader, his attack seemed to be aimed at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who also attended the House proceedings and is set to open the discussion on Operation Sindoor from the Congress’ side.
Gandhi has earlier invited the ire of the Centre when he shared a video of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar claiming to have informed Pakistan military about Operation Sindoor in advance and instead questioned how many aircraft the Indian Air Force lost.
“Informing Pakistan at the start of our attack was a crime. EAM has publicly admitted that GOI did it. 1. Who authorised it? 2. How many aircraft did our airforce lose as a result?” Gandhi wrote on X, attaching a 17-second-long video clip of Jaishankar. The Press Information Bureau had then dismissed the claim and said Jaishankar had been misquoted.
This was Gandhi’s first direct attack on the government on the issue. His sole communication earlier was a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing the “unanimous request of the Opposition” to convene a special session of Parliament to deliberate on the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor, and the ceasefire initially announced by US President Donald Trump.
Later explaining the circumstances leading to May 10 ceasefire, Mr Jaishankar said, “On May 9, US Vice President JD Vance called the Prime Minister, warning of a massive Pakistani attack in the next two hours. The PM, in his response, made it very clear that if such an attack happens, it would meet an appropriate response from our side. That attack took place and was foiled by our armed forces on May 9-10. Our response was delivered. Every member has seen satellite pictures of Pakistani air bases. You can see pictures.
“On May 10, we received phone calls, sharing the impression that Pakistan was ready to cease the fight. Our position was if Pakistan was ready, we needed to get this request from the Pakistani side through DGMO channels. At no stage, in any conversation with the United States, was there any linkage with trade and what was going on,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Mr Gogoi, who opened the debate for the opposition, targeted the government over Mr Trump’s repeated claims that he brokered the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan following Operation Sindoor. He asked if Islamabad was ready to kneel down, “Why did you stop, and to whom did you surrender?”
“The entire country, and the Opposition, were supporting PM Modi. Suddenly, on 10th May, we got to know that there had been a ceasefire. Why? We wanted to know from PM Modi that if Pakistan was ready to kneel down, then why did you stop, and to whom did you surrender? The US President has said this 26 times that he forced India and Pakistan to announce a ceasefire,” Gogoi said.
Mr Jaishankar also took a dig at Congress for not taking any decisive action in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. “We were asked, Why did you stop at this time? Why did you not go further? This question is being asked by people who, after 26/11, felt that the best action was inaction… 26/11 happened in November 2008. What was the reaction? The reaction was Sharm-el-Sheikh. In Sharm-el-Sheikh, the then government and the Pakistani Prime Minister agreed that terrorism is a main threat to both countries.
“Now, today, people are saying America is hyphenating you, Russia is hyphenating you, that is what I heard Deepender Hooda ji say. You are hyphenating yourself. You did not need a foreign country to say please link India to Pakistan…And worst of all, they accepted a reference to Balochistan in that,” he said.
Jaishankar said only 3 countries, apart from Pakistan, out of 193 nations in the United Nations, opposed Operation Sindoor. “From April 25, till the commencement of Operation Sindoor, there were a number of phone calls and conversations. At my level, there were 27 calls; at PM Modi’s level, almost 20 calls. About 35-40 letters of support came in, and what we tried to do was to create a narrative, prepare the diplomacy for the launch of Operation Sindoor… There are 193 nations in the United Nations; only 3 countries, apart from Pakistan, opposed Operation Sindoor,” he said.
Elaborating further on India’s Operation Sindoor diplomacy, Jaishankar said: “We had seven parliamentary delegations which went to 33 countries… These seven delegations did the nation proud. Every member, members of opposition, members of the government, public spirited citizens, retired diplomats, they were able to explain to the whole world our posture of zero tolerance against terrorism.”