Ahead of the debate on Operation Sindoor in Parliament, minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday invoked the Hindu epic Ramayana to describe the Indian action on Pakistan.
“When Ravan crossed the Laxman Rekha, Lanka burned. When Pakistan crossed the red lines drawn by India, terrorist camps faced the fire!” Rijiju, the minister for parliamentary affairs, posted on X.
The BJP leader's post came just about two hours before India's military response to the Pahalgam terror attack, Operation Sindoor, was set to come up for a debate in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing monsoon session.
With it, he posted a song, in Kailash Kher's voice, with lyrics saying the operation was for India's “aan, baan, swabhimaan” (dignity, pride, self-respect). The one-minute clip begins with a line by PM Narendra Modi in Hindi, dedicating Operation Sindoor to “every mother, sister and daughter of the country”.
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Sixteen hours have been earmarked for the special debate in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Rajya Sabha will have a debate for a similar duration on Tuesday, July 29.
{{/usCountry}}Sixteen hours have been earmarked for the special debate in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Rajya Sabha will have a debate for a similar duration on Tuesday, July 29.
{{/usCountry}}Live | Parliament monsoon session: Debate on Operation Sindoor
The Opposition had been seeking this debate — even a special session of Parliament — on the operation, and the diplomacy around it, ever since the military action took place in May. It was a response to a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22 that claimed 26 lives, mostly of them.
While the opposition has underlined its “full support to the operation in national interest”, pointed questions have been asked about US President Donald Trump's repeated claims that he got the ceasefire done — “stopped a potential nuclear war” — by using trade as a stick for both India and Pakistan. Indian officials have maintained that the country does not take decisions on foreign cues.
The debate was agreed to after the monsoon session, which began on July 21, saw a week of disruptions by the Congress and other opposition parties.
Now, key leaders from both the ruling NDA led by the BJP and the Opposition are set to participate.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to open the debate in the Lok Sabha. Union home minister Amit Shah, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, and BJP MPs Anurag Thakur and Nishikant Dubey are also expected to speak, PTI said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to intervene in the Lok Sabha debate and may do the same in the Rajya Sabha as well.