National security not just 'slogan' but moral duty, responsibility: RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha

New Delhi: Asserting that the killing of 26 people in the Pahalgam terrorist attack became "collective pain" of the country, senior RJD leader Manoj Kumar Jha on Wednesday said that national security is not just a slogan but a moral duty and responsibility.

"We have made the nation's security, a national issue, a subject of sloganeering," he said, while participating in a "special discussion on India’s strong, successful and decisive ‘Operation Sindoor’ in response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam" in the Rajya Sabha.

Jha said the April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, in which 26 people were killed in cold blood, is the "collective pain of the country".

"Those 26 families became the symbol of the pain of the country. Their pain was not their personal pain. It was the pain of all of us," he said.

Referring to his recent article titled 'Unity in Grief', Jha said whenever there is a disaster facing the country the whole nation starts thinking alike. "This is the beauty of this country," the senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader said.

He, however, cautioned that this national unity in times of grief should not become a kind of shield to protect the government from valid criticism.

Without referring to any political party or leader, Jha said former Prime Minister Jawaharlal "Nehru is the life vest of this government".

"When we sit in an airplane, they tell us that if the plane sinks, blow up the life vest in such a way that while landing in the water...... Nehru comes out time and again," he said.

Jha said if Nehru is "still bothering you after so many years, then there was something special about that man".

He also demanded restoration of full statehood for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Kashmir should not be considered as a landmass. People live in Kashmir. People of Kashmir have also sacrificed. The kind of reaction that came in Kashmir after Pahalgam was unprecedented," Jha said.

He referred to a recent instance in which Jammu and Kashmir's Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and other prominent leaders from ruling and opposition parties were not allowed to leave their houses to prevent them from visiting the graveyard of 1931 martyrs in Srinagar and said that "the government there have the responsibility without power".

"Though today is not the time for a petition, but I will file a petition before this government to restore full-fledged statehood (for J-K)," Jha said.

Earlier participating in the discussion, TDP MP Masthan Rao Yadav Beedha said there were moments in the nation's history that don't come softly and that "Pahalgam was and will always be one such moment".

He said in "New India" under the guidance and leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, "we no longer sit quietly".

Citing the success of Operation Sindoor, Beedha said Pakistan will now think 100 times instead of one before launching terror attacks on the country.

"We must understand why Pakistan chose to carry out the Pahalgam attack. The reason is quite clear. Had the attack not occurred, Jammu and Kashmir would have been on track for yet another record-breaking tourist season.

"Pakistan understands that peace in Kashmir weakens its political narrative. The act of terror was not just an attack. It was a cry for relevance... Operation Sindoor didn't just hit infrastructure. It hit the core narrative of Pakistan with Kashmir," he added.