Bihar village swells with pride at Air Marshal Bharti's role in Operation Sindoor

Purnea (Bihar): As India’s armed forces executed precision strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and PoK during ‘Operation Sindoor’, one village in Bihar stood a little taller.

Jhunni Kalan, the ancestral home of Director General of Air Operations (DGAO) Air Marshal Awadhesh Kumar Bharti, has become the epicentre of pride, as the decorated officer helped script one of the Indian Air Force’s most daring counter-terror operations.

‘Operation Sindoor’, launched by the Indian armed forces on May 7, targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 lives were lost.

Locals describe Air Marshal Bharti’s pivotal role as a moment of immense pride not only for Jhunni Kalan, but for the entire Purnea district.

"It’s a matter of great pride for me, for the villagers and for the entire country that our armed forces gave a befitting reply to Pakistani forces and terrorists," said Jeevachhlal Yadav, Bharti’s father and a retired state irrigation department employee.

"Our forces displayed great courage during 'Operation Sindoor', and my son played a crucial role. The villagers are elated — our chests are swelling with pride. He has been a disciplined human being since childhood," he added.

Yadav said his son had not mentioned anything about the operation during a recent call.

"I came to know about his role from neighbours in Srinagar Hata, Purnea town and from villagers. People have been calling and visiting to congratulate us." Bharti's mother Urmila Devi said, "I have nothing to say much about my son. The entire country knows what he has done for the nation. It was his dream to join the armed forces. It's a proud moment for us, for the people of Purnea and also for the countrymen".

Bharti's younger brother Mithilesh Kumar, who works in a pharmaceutical firm said, "Bhaiya has done a great job for the country. People from the whole village are dropping in to offer their congratulations. The village is celebrating in its own special way — he is the son of the soil. The last time he visited, about a year ago, he met everyone with the same warmth as always." Bharti did his primary schooling at a government school in Purnea and then at the Tilaiya Sainik School in Jharkhand. Later, he went to the National Defence Academy in Pune and was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in 1987. He was awarded the President's Air Force Medal in 2008 and was promoted to Air Marshal in 2023.

'Operation Sindoor' started on the night of May 7 with precision attacks on nine sites in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) and even inside Pakistani territory that destroyed training camps of known terror organisations.