New Delhi: The Lok Sabha will take up on Monday a special discussion on India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ that was carried out in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam, after a weeklong virtual washout of Parliament proceedings.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and External Affairs S Jaishankar are likely to participate in the 16-hour debate that is expected to stretch over three days as an aggressive opposition would seek to corner the government over US President Donald Trump’s claims that he mediated to avert a nuclear war between India and Pakistan and got them to agree on a ceasefire.
India has made it clear that the cessation of firing and military activity targeted at Pakistan was paused after “direct contact” between the directors general of military operations (DGMOs) of both nations, at the instance of Islamabad.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat has listed a “special discussion on India’s strong, successful and decisive ‘Operation Sindoor’ in response to the terror attack in Pahalgam” in its agenda for Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to intervene in the discussion.
Special discussions, which have been held occasionally in the past on topics like the Constitution to mark the 75th year of its adoption, are not guided by any particular rule of the House.
The Rajya Sabha will take up the debate on Operation Sindoor on Tuesday.
Members of Parliament, who were part of the multi-party delegations that took India’s message of zero tolerance to terrorism to 33 world capitals are also expected to participate in the discussion in both the Houses of Parliament.
The first week of the Monsoon session of Parliament was rather a tumultuous one with the surprise resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar as vice president, hours after he had kicked off a row by referring in the Rajya Sabha an opposition-sponsored notice on the impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma.
The opposition made a strong demand for a discussion on Operation Sindoor on the first day of the Monsoon session on Monday last, which was accepted by the government.
However, the opposition stalled the proceedings of both the Houses of Parliament over the issue of special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, contending that the exercise was aimed at disenfranchising genuine voters by demanding proof of citizenship.
The government has not agreed to a discussion in Parliament on the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and the rest of the country with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju saying that a call on this issue could be taken gradually.
The Opposition has alleged that the revision of electoral rolls is aimed at helping the BJP-led alliance, which is in power in poll-bound Bihar.
Terrorists linked to Pakistan had shot down 26 civilians, mostly tourists, in the popular hill station of Pahalgam, on April 22, and India retaliated by targeting terror sites in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan under Operation Sindoor, leading to a four-day conflict between the two countries.
India said the decision to stop military action was agreed mutually between the two countries but the mediation claims of Trump, who broke on social media the news of a “ceasefire”, have given the Opposition a handle to target the government.
