Lok Sabha to debate on Operation Sindoor from July 28, no word on Bihar SIR discussion yet

The Opposition has been demanding a discussion on Operation Sindoor as well as the SIR exercise in Bihar but the government has only committed to the security operation and not the SIR exercise.

New Delhi: After a week of washout, Parliament will witness vigorous business in the coming week, with discussions on Operation Sindoor to take place in both Houses. Slated to speak on the subject are union home minister Amit Shah, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and union defence minister Rajnath Singh, among others.

The Opposition and the treasury benches will lock horns over Operation Sindoor; while the Opposition has been demanding a discussion on Operation Sindoor as well as the SIR exercise in Bihar, the government has only committed to the security operation and not the SIR exercise.

On Friday, union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said that decisions on whether SIR will be undertaken are yet to be taken. “There are many issues that the Opposition wants to raise, and we have told them we will raise them one by one … all issues cannot be discussed together. The opposition has raised the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar; we have told them that Operation Sindoor will be discussed first as per a demand put forward by the Opposition. We will then decide on what issues will be discussed after that,” Rijiju said.

While government sources remained tight-lipped, there is significant indication the prime minister will speak during the discussion – something that the Opposition has been demanding. At the Business Advisory Committee meetings of both Houses, it has been decided that in each House, the discussion on Operation Sindoor will take place across 16 hours. While the discussion in the Lok Sabha will begin Monday, the one in Rajya Sabha will commence on Tuesday.

In the Lok Sabha, the BJP will field its heavyweights, including external affairs minister S Jaishankar, Anurag Thakur, Baijayant Panda, Nishikant Dubey and Tejaswi Surya, besides Shah and Rajnath. The Congress is likely to field Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Gaurav Gogoi, and Manish Tewari, besides Gandhi.

From the Samajwadi Party, which has been allotted over an hour, Akhilesh Yadav and Rajeev Rai will speak. The Telugu Desam Party, which has been allotted half an hour, has three speakers in line including Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, and Harish Balayogi. They are yet to decide on a third.

In the Rajya Sabha, BJP president JP Nadda and Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge will speak from either side of the aisle.