New Delhi, Jul 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted on Tuesday that no world leader had told India to stop Operation Sindoor as he lashed out at the Congress for “importing issues from Pakistan” and said the opposition party is joining terrorists and their masterminds in shedding tears after the victorious Indian military action.
Replying to an over 16-hour discussion in Lok Sabha on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, Modi rebutted the Opposition’s charge over US President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of mediating “ceasefire”, saying he had told US Vice President J D Vance on May 9 night that Pakistan will pay dearly for any attack on India.
In his 102-minute speech, the prime minister lauded India’s military action as a “vijayotsav” (victory celebration) and told the House amid cheers from the treasury benches that he was presenting the “stand of Bharat”.
“India destroyed Pakistan’s military strength between May 9 and May 10. Pakistan now clearly understands that India’s response will always get bigger and that India can do anything if it engages in any misadventure in future,” he said, emphasising that Operation Sindoor is continuing.
Modi said Vance called him up a few times but he was busy in meetings with the armed forces brass and returned the call later. “The Vice President told me that Pakistan is going to launch a big attack. I told him if this is Pakistan’s intention, then this will cost it dearly. We will respond with a bigger attack. We will fire cannonballs against their bullets.”
“No world leader asked India to stop its military operation,” he said.
No country stopped India from acting in its defence, PM Modi stressed, adding that only three of the 193 UN members spoke in favour of Pakistan, remarks which came soon after Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi claimed no country condemned Pakistan and cited Trump’s claims to question Modi’s leadership.
Modi then turned on the Congress. The opposition party has fallen to such a low that despite governing India for so long, it does not trust the country’s establishment and its trust is in fact guided by remote control in Pakistan, he said.
“The world supported us but, unfortunately, the valour of the armed forces did not receive support from the Congress,” he said
While India is surging to become “aatmanirbhar”, the Congress is becoming dependent on Pakistan for issues, he said.
After India hit the terror facilities, the Indian DGMO informed his Pakistani counterpart of the military action. India was also waiting for an opportunity to hit back, Modi said.
When Pakistan retaliated, the Indian armed forces taught it a lesson it will not forget for years, Modi said, adding that the neighbouring country was brought to its knees following Indian strikes in its different corners.
The prime minister cited comments of some Pakistanis, which appeared on social media, to stress on their shock at the Indian attack.
Their DGMO called up the Indian DGMO saying, “Bas karo, bahut mara… stop the attack.” They could not bear it any more, he said.
In this era of technology-driven war, the Indian defence system proved its mettle, he said, noting that over 1,000 drones and missiles launched by Pakistan were destroyed midair.
The main opposition party is importing issues from Pakistan and the Congress and its allies have become spokespersons of Pakistan’s disinformation at a time when narratives play a big role in warfare and are used to demoralise the armed forces and people, the prime minister alleged.
His opponents, Modi said, echo Pakistan’s statements to the comma and full stop.
The country is amazed that the Congress is giving a clean chit to Pakistan in the Pahalgam attack, he said in a swipe at former home minister P Chidambaram who had asked if proof existed to state that the terrorists were Pakistanis.
Be it the surgical strikes or the air strikes, opposition parties always hoped for “Modi to get trapped”, and they had a similar wish this time, the prime minister said, citing the campaign against his government over the capture of a BSF personnel by Pakistan. He was safely returned later.
“Terrorists are crying, their masters are crying and some people are crying watching them,” he said in a swipe at the Congress, asserting that Pakistan-based leaders of terrorist groups, who earlier thought they were safe from any Indian action, were now having sleepless nights.
He accused the opposition of doing politics over the deaths of 26 civilians in the Pahalgam terror attack, saying they had started to taunt him within three-four days of the tragedy.
As the Congress questioned the government’s decision to stop military action when Indian forces had got the better of Pakistanis, he said Operation Sindoor had met its 100 per cent objective by destroying terror masterminds and their facilities not only in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir but also deep within the neighbouring country.
Keeping the Congress in his line of attack, he alleged that the opposition leaders seized on the propaganda being spread from across the border.
They ignore facts presented by the armed forces but promote Pakistan’s lies, he said, adding that previous precise military operations like surgical strikes and the Balakot air strike had met their targets as well, but opposition parties questioned them too.
Operation Sindoor targeted the epicentre of terrorism, where the Pahalgam attack had been planned and terrorists were recruited and trained.
With opposition leaders probing his government as to why it did not allow the armed forces to reclaim Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), he cited a host of incidents when the previous Congress governments did not do so despite having the military advantage, as in the 1971 war, and even ceded the territories it had captured.
The Congress government under Jawaharlal Nehru lost over 38,000 km of territory of Aksai Chin, he said and slammed the Indus Waters Treaty agreement that the first prime minister signed with Pakistan as a “big blunder”.
The Modi government has put the treaty in abeyance.
“Before asking why PoK has not been taken back yet, Congress must respond — who let it go. India is still suffering the pain of mistakes committed by previous Congress governments, starting from Jawaharlal Nehru,” he said.
Asserting that Operation Sindoor demonstrated the prowess of India’s indigenous defence industry, he said it has raised the global demand for Indian weaponry.
