New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday affirmed in the Lok Sabha that no leader of any country asked India to stop Operation Sindoor but lamented that while the nation got support from the entire world, the Congress and its allies could not stand behind the valour of the nation’s soldiers.
Responding to the two-day debate on the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor in the Lower House, he said no country in the world stopped India from taking action in its defence against terrorism.
The comments by the prime minister come amid repeated questions by the Opposition about why US President Donald Trump announced the “ceasefire” between India and Pakistan as LoP, Rahul Gandhi said that Trump made such statements not once but 29 times and asked PM if US President’s claims are not true, let PM tell the House that he (Trump is lying)”.
Modi told the House that on May 9th night, “US Vice President (JD Vance) tried to reach out to me 3-4 times, but I was busy with meetings with the armed forces”.
“When I returned the call, the US Vice President warned me of a big attack from Pakistan. I told him that if Pakistan attacks India, our attack would be much bigger as we will respond to bullets with cannons,” he said.
Modi asserted that no leader of any country asked India to stop the operation.
The prime minister said Pakistani airbases hit by India “are still in ICU” and the masterminds of the April 22 terror attack continue to have sleepless nights.
“No country in the world has stopped India from any action in its defence against terrorism. Only three countries spoke in favour of Pakistan at the UN.
“India got support from the entire world, but it is unfortunate that the Congress did not support the valour of our soldiers. Congress leaders targeted me for political gains, but their frivolous statements ended up discouraging our brave soldiers,” he said.
The prime minister noted that India called out Pakistan’s nuclear bluff and showed the world that “we will not bow down to nuclear blackmail”.
“Our operations range from Sindoor to Sindhu (Indus Waters Treaty)… Pakistan knows they have to pay a huge price for any misadventure. Terror attacks were launched earlier and the masterminds of attacks knew nothing would happen, but now they know India will come for them.”
PM Modi said drones and missiles made in India exposed the capabilities of Pakistani arms and ammunition during the military operation.
“The world saw the strength of self-reliant India during Operation Sindoor. We destroyed terror sites deep inside Pakistan within 22 minutes to avenge the April 22 Pahalgam attack,” he said.
Modi noted that Pakistan had some inkling of Indian action and had started issuing nuclear threats, but could do nothing when terror targets were hit.
“The Congress and its allies have unfortunately become spokespersons of Pakistani propaganda. India is becoming self-reliant, but Congress is now dependent on Pakistan for issues. The entire country is amazed to see Congress give a clean chit to Pakistan and sing the same tune as theirs.
PM Modi said, “It (Pahalgam attack) was a conspiracy to instigate riots in India and the country’s unity foiled that attempt. When I speak of this Parliament session being a Vijayotsav (celebration of victory), it is of destroying the headquarters of terror.”
“I stand here to make a case for India, and to show a mirror to those who do not understand this. I had said that we will teach the terrorists and their masters a befitting lesson which will be beyond their imagination.
“We have complete trust in the capabilities of our armed forces and they were given a free hand to respond. The armed forces taught them such a lesson that the masters of terrorism are still losing their sleep over it,” he added.
Meanwhile, PM said his government took a strong decision and put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, thus rectifying a “big blunder” committed by the country’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Participating in a 19-hour debate in the Lok Sabha on Operation Sindoor, Modi described the signing of the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan in 1960 by Nehru’s government as a “big betrayal” of India’s dignity.
“It has been an old habit of the Congress to mortgage India’s interests. The biggest example of this is the Indus Waters Treaty. Who signed this treaty? Nehru did it and granted rights to 80 per cent of the waters of the rivers originating in India and flowing to Pakistan,” Modi said, amid protests from the Congress members.
The prime minister said in a historic move, India has put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance in the best interests of its citizens and farmers.
“India has firmly conveyed its stance that blood and water cannot flow together,” he said.
“The previous Congress-led governments neglected the Indus Waters Treaty and failed to address the mistakes made during Nehruji’s era. However, today, India has taken decisive action to rectify those errors,” Modi said.
He said India gets its identity from the Indus river, but Nehru and the Congress allowed the World Bank to decide on the sharing of the waters of the Indus and the Jhelum.
“Nehru signed this treaty that granted rights to 80 percent water to Pakistan and 20 percent to a big country like India. What kind of diplomacy is this?” Modi asked.
He said had the treaty not been signed, several projects could have been built on the west-flowing rivers to solve the problems of farmers in states, such as Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi.
“India could have generated more electricity and solved its problem of drinking water shortages,” Modi said, contending that the treaty had led to inter-state water disputes in the country.
The prime minister slammed Nehru for giving crores of rupees to Pakistan to build canals on the Indus and other rivers, and giving up India’s rights to de-silting the dams built on its territory on these rivers.
Modi said Nehru had admitted his mistake later and said he believed that the Indus Waters Treaty would lead to the solution of other problems with Pakistan.
“But he (Nehru) realised that the problems remained as they were,” Modi said.
As a response to the Pahalgam terror attack, India announced keeping the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance on April 23.
