Operation Sindoor: No clear answers

Four days of debate on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor in Parliament – two days in the Lok Sabha and two in the Rajya Sabha – generated political heat but threw little light on the topic of discussion. While the hostilities with Pakistan were on, India’s military leaders and bureaucrats briefed the country on some operational details. But beyond these official briefings, it was for the government to announce the mission’s goals, achievements, gains, and losses. Parliament presented an apt forum for it, and the government should have taken the lead. When the debate finally took place, on the Opposition’s demand, it came up short in many respects.

Questions were raised about the security failure in Pahalgam, the brief to the Armed Forces about the nature and extent of the operation, the abrupt ceasefire, and the alleged loss of major military assets. The government was evasive on many of them. While Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told the Opposition that they were asking the wrong questions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others from the government avoided direct responses to questions about the loss of fighter jets – there, however, was no clear denial either. The questions about US President Donald Trump’s repeated claim that he brought about the ceasefire were also met with replies that lacked clarity. The Prime Minister’s assertion that no foreign leader asked India to stop the operation may not be enough to explain the ceasefire in the circumstances it happened. The government did not have a convincing response to questions about whether a limited brief had constrained the military in the first phase of the operation and why no one has been held accountable for the security lapse in Pahalgam.

Though the core topic of the debate was Operation Sindoor, much of the discussion from the government side was about the flawed policies, misdeeds, and mistakes of the Congress party and the governments it led in the past. The party’s mistakes were remembered, and Jawaharlal Nehru was reviled; the partition of the country and the 1971 war were mentioned; the Congress was dubbed a Pakistan supporter. Unfortunately, the debate on a matter involving national security became a political blame game. There has always been a national consensus that rose above partisan political interests on foreign policy, relations with other countries, and wars and conflicts. That consensus seems elusive now. This breakdown reflects poorly on the participants, especially the government, which failed to ensure that there was a thorough and informed debate on an issue of great national importance.