Why facts not given to citizens, Parliament: TMC on CDS acknowledging loss of aircraft

Gen Chauhan has dismissed Islamabad's claim of downing six Indian jets as 'absolutely incorrect'.

New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) accused the BJP-led Centre on Saturday of not presenting facts before citizens and reiterated its demand for a special session of Parliament, following Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan's acknowledgement of aircraft loss in recent hostilities with Pakistan.

Gen. Chauhan has, however, dismissed Islamabad's claim of downing six Indian jets as "absolutely incorrect".

TMC's deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Sagarika Ghose shared a clip from the CDS' interview to Bloomberg TV on X and asked, "Why should international media report this first? Why were these facts first not given to India's citizens, to Parliament and to people's representatives?"

In another post, Ghose said, "There are now too many citizens' concerns regarding Operation Sindoor that must be raised in the national interest. This is how a strong democracy renews itself and learns from experiences."

"Citizens and opposition must be taken into confidence. The Narendra Modi government can no longer deny the opposition's demand. A special session of Parliament must be convened in June," she added.

In the interview, Gen. Chauhan was asked whether India lost combat jets during the recent four-day military clashes with Pakistan in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.

"So the good part is that we were able to understand the tactical mistakes which we made, remedy it, rectify it and then implement it again after two days and flew all our jets again targeting at long range," the CDS said.

He asserted that it is more important to find out why the aircraft were lost and that the Indian military hit back after rectifying the issues.

He declined to specify the losses in terms of numbers but clearly pointed to the fact that the Indian military carried out high-precision strikes deep inside Pakistani territory. Gen. Chauhan is currently in Singapore to participate in the Shangri-La Dialogue.

Previously, Indian Air Force's Director General of Air Operations Air Marshall A K Bharti had acknowledged that "losses are a part of combat" and said all IAF pilots returned home safely.

Air Marshall Bharti made the remarks at a media briefing on May 11, when asked about India's aircraft losses during Operation Sindoor.