Rajnath Singh and Operation Sindoor
Despite significant opposition, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh initiated the debate on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha today, explaining that India successfully met its military goals in this operation, leading to its cessation after four days. However, the operation serves as a warning that any future terrorist activities by Pakistan will be met with a strong response. The Defence Minister is recognized as one of India's politicians who articulates the country's stance clearly and is adept at resolving political complexities directly.
However, before the discussion started, the House was adjourned thrice today and the discussion could start at 2 pm instead of 12 noon. Opposition MPs were demanding that the discussion should start with the condition that later the government will also hold a debate on the intensive voter revision being done in Bihar. The government did not accept this demand of the opposition. Describing Operation Sindoor as a successful campaign of India, Shri Rajnath Singh revealed that in this military operation which started on the intervening night of 6th and 7th May, India destroyed 9 terrorist hideouts of Pakistan and caused heavy damage to 11 military bases.
Pakistan also tried to give a military response to this, but the joint action of the three armies of India destroyed its intentions. The Defense Minister clarified that this operation was a great display of India's strength and power, which lasted only four days and Pakistan, frightened by it, started pleading for a ceasefire. According to Rajnath Singh, Operation Sindoor was actually India's political-military operation which achieved its goal. India's aim was not at all to turn it into a full-fledged war. That is why it was stopped after four days. He said that there is no comparison between India and Pakistan because India is a promoter of peace, but if someone considers this its weakness, then India also knows how to show its strength by fighting militarily.
It is now clear from the statement of the Defense Minister that India did not stop Operation Sindoor due to any pressure, but only after Pakistan pleaded and achieved its goal. He said that India has been a worshipper of Buddha and not of war but if someone dares to challenge its integrity and sovereignty, then it knows how to give a befitting reply. Opening the layers of the recent history of India-Pakistan relations, the Defense Minister said that the previous government had adopted a very indecisive attitude on the front of Pak-sponsored terrorism while the policy of the Modi government has been to enter the house and kill. He said that today's opposition is asking how much loss India suffered during Operation Sindoor, whereas it should have asked how many Pakistani planes were shot down in this brief military action? The Defense Minister very cleverly cornered the opposition on this issue and said that Pakistan is a failed nation which has made terrorism a part of its foreign policy. This country has become a fertile ground for terrorism.
How can India compete with such a country because even military officers and politicians attend the funerals of terrorists there. Therefore, the policy of the Modi government is completely justified that talks and terrorism cannot go together. This statement of Shri Rajnath Singh will be called completely justified because this is the thinking of the Modi government regarding Pakistan, which is completely opposite to the policy of the previous Manmohan government. The Defense Minister also mentioned some old terrorist incidents in India by Pakistan and proved with evidence that after the Mumbai attack in November 2008, how the Manmohan government had accepted in the Egyptian city of Sharm-al-Shekh only eight months later that Pakistan is also a country affected by terrorism. In July 2009, after a conversation with the then Prime Minister of India, late Dr. Manohar Singh had accepted that his country also has the problem of terrorism and terrorism will no longer come in the way of India-Pak talks. In fact, a joint statement was issued in Sharm-al-Sheikh in which this was said and India also agreed to investigate the terrorist incidents taking place in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.
Rajnath Singh very neatly tried to reveal the Indo-Pak relations and also tried to show that no harm was done to Pakistani citizens in Operation Sindoor, whereas the response that came from Pakistan was that innocent Indian citizens were also targeted, especially those living on the border. India even put the full details of this operation on the table of the Parliament and said that in just 22 minutes on the midnight of 7 May, the Indian forces had succeeded in achieving their target. The way Pakistani terrorists killed 26 people on 22 April in Pahalgam of Jammu and Kashmir after asking their religion, its aim may have been to incite communal riots in India, but the great people of India expressed their reaction only after fully recognizing this evil. This is also a symbol of India's inclusive potential.