Downed fighter jets to Trump role in ceasefire: How Rajnath Singh responded to 3 Opposition questions
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaks in Lok Sabha
Singh chose not to discuss the circumstances leading to the attack or information about the perpetrators that the investigation had yielded till now.
How many jets did the Air Force lose?
The Opposition has been raising this question since June 1, when Chief of Defence Staff Anil Chouhan said on the sidelines of the Shang-Ri La Dialogue in Singapore that the Air Force lost fighter jets on May 7 but quickly changed tactics to inflict major damage on Pakistani airbases.
The Defence Minister did not provide a specific answer to this question, saying the question itself was wrong. 'In any exam, the result matters. If a student is getting good marks in an exam, the marks should matter to us. We should not focus on whether his pencil was broken or the pen was lost during the exam. Ultimately, the result matters, and the result is that our forces achieved fully the goals of Operation Sindoor.'
He added, 'The Opposition sometimes asks about planes shot down. Their question does not represent India's sentiments. They have not yet asked how many Pakistani planes were shot down. If they want to ask questions, their question should be: Did India destroy terror bases? The answer is yes. Was Operation Sindoor successful? The answer is yes. Were the masters of terrorists who wiped Sindoor off the foreheads of our sisters and daughters destroyed? The answer is yes. You should ask whether our soldiers faced any losses. The answer is no … When the goals are big, we should not focus on comparatively small matters; else we focus on small issues and lose focus on big issues like the enthusiasm and honour of soldiers, as is happening with the Opposition.'
What role did the US government play in the ceasefire?
Singh dismissed the Opposition's question about whether pressure from the Donald Trump administration played a role in the government's decision to halt the military offensive on May 10.
'Bharat ne karywaahi isliye roki ki.. jo bhi political aur military objectives tay kiye gaye the use hum poori tarah se haasil kar chuke the. Isliye ye maanna ki ye operation kisi dabaav mein roka gaya tha ye bebuniyaad hai aur saraasar ghalat hai (Operation Sindoor was halted because we had fulfilled our political and military objectives. To say it was done under any pressure is totally baseless and wrong). I want to assure the House that in my political life I have tried my best never to say anything false,' the minister said.
'The aim was not to capture territory but to destroy the terror nurseries that Pakistan nurtured for years. We targeted only these. Operation Sindoor's politico-military objective was to punish Pakistan's proxy war in the form of terrorism. That is why the defence forces were given full freedom to choose their targets. The aim was not to go to war but to compel the adversary to bend. After the powerful attacks, Pakistan accepted defeat and requested that hostilities be stopped … Ab rok deejiye, bahot ho gaya (please halt it, it is enough). We accepted with a caveat: that the Operation has just been halted and not ended. If Pakistan attempts any misadventure, I want to assure the House, the operation will begin again.'
Vikas Pathak is deputy associate editor with The Indian Express and writes on national politics. He has over 17 years of experience, and has worked earlier with The Hindustan Times and The Hindu, among other publications. He has covered the national BJP, some key central ministries and Parliament for years, and has covered the 2009 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls and many state assembly polls. He has interviewed many Union ministers and Chief Ministers.
Vikas has taught as a full-time faculty member at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai; Symbiosis International University, Pune; Jio Institute, Navi Mumbai; and as a guest professor at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi.
Vikas has authored a book, Contesting Nationalisms: Hinduism, Secularism and Untouchability in Colonial Punjab (Primus, 2018), which has been widely reviewed by top academic journals and leading newspapers.
He did his PhD, M Phil and MA from JNU, New Delhi, was Student of the Year (2005-06) at ACJ and gold medalist from University Rajasthan College in Jaipur in graduation. He has been invited to top academic institutions like JNU, St Stephen's College, Delhi, and IIT Delhi as a guest speaker/panellist. ... Read More
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