'No World Leader Asked India To Stop': Highlights From PM Modi's Speech On Operation Sindoor In Lok Sabha

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the debate on Operation Sindoor in Parliament should have been a 'vijayotsav' (celebration of victory) of destroying terror centres and the unity of Indians.

While addressing the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (29 July), he said, "The Pahalgam attack was a preplanned conspiracy of igniting riots across the country. After 22 April, I publicly vowed to merge terrorists into the soil and punish terror leaders beyond their imagination."

"The army was given full operational freedom and the army had to decide how, when and where it wanted to attack terrorism. We are proud that the punishment was so big that terror leaders are still not able to sleep," the PM added.

"In the midnight of 6 May and 7 May, India did what it had decided to do and Pakistan couldn't do anything. Our army had avenged the 22 April attack in 22 minutes. For the first time, we went deep inside Pakistan to destroy terror camps," Modi said.

"Pakistan's nuclear bluff was called out. India proved that it will no longer bend before nuclear blackmail. India showed its technical prowess with precision strikes. Pakistan's airbase and assets were severely damaged, many of which are still in ICU," he added.

The PM asserted that the preparation of the last 10 years helped us in navigating through the high-tech warfare. He also commended the made-in-India drones and missiles. He asserted that India will respond to terrorism on its own terms.

Targeting Congress

"No country has stopped India from taking any action. Of the 193 countries of the United Nations, only three gave statements in favour of Pakistan. All countries supported India but it is unfortunate that Congress did not support the valour of our braves," Modi said.

The PM quoted Congress's statements, like questioning, 'Where is the 56-inch chest?' and claimed that even in the Pahalgam attack victims' pain, the opposition was exploring its politics.

"Congress leaders neither believe in India's capabilities, nor in its army's and hence, they are questioning Operation Sindoor. This can give you headlines in the media, but not a place in the heart of countrymen," Modi said.

"On 10 May, India announced a ceasefire. But some people want to propagate Pakistan's propaganda, in place of facts put forward by the army. During Operation Sindoor, our targets were set at terror epicentres," he said.

"It is unfortunate that Congress has to import narratives from Pakistan. This is hurting the army's morale and attempts are being made to create distrust among the public. Congress and its allies have become spokespersons of Pakistani propaganda," the PM said.

"Congress sought evidence from the army for the 2016 surgical strike, but later, they started claiming that even Congress had conducted surgical strikes, every leader giving his own numbers," Modi said.

He claimed that even when our pilot Abhinandan was captured by Pakistan, opposition leaders were happy, thinking that Modi would now have to face the challenge of bringing him back. "When we brought Abhinandan back, their mouths were shut," Modi said.

The PM claimed that even after the Pahalgam attack, when Pakistan captured our BSF (Border Security Force) jawan, the opposition started questioning, but that BSF jawan was also brought back with complete respect.

"Terrorists and terror leaders are crying. Seeing them cry, some people here are also crying," Modi said, attacking the opposition for questioning the ceasefire and said that they only want something to oppose, making themselves a laughing stock before the country.

The PM said that Congress has not even accepted the Kargil victory yet. "Congress has given a clean chit to Pakistan. They dare to ask for evidence that Pahalgam terrorists were Pakistanis. This is when there is no dearth of evidence," Modi said.

He questioned why Congress doesn't trust India's institutions and whether it is remotely controlled by Pakistan. He also targeted the opposition for questioning why Operation Mahadev happened yesterday only, on a Monday of Sawan.

Modi also targeted Congress for not allowing those MPs to speak during the debate, who were part of India's multi-party delegation for foreign outreach on Operation Sindoor, like Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari, without naming them. He urged Congress to celebrate the country's success, instead of mocking it.

On Congress's past mistakes

"Congress never had a vision for national security. Congress always compromised with national security. Those asking why we did not take back PoK, first need to answer whose government allowed Pakistan to take PoK," Modi said.

The PM asserted that the country is still suffering from many decisions taken by earlier Congress governments, like the giving away of the Aksai Chin land, and there were even proposals of a 'line of peace' to vacate land in J&K.

"Our army won Haji Pir pass in 1965, but it was returned. After the 1971 war, we had Pakistan's 93,000 prisoners of war and thousands of sq km of land. If Congress had vision, we could have taken back PoK. In 1974, Sri Lanka was gifted Katchatheevu island," Modi said.

He added that after 2014, Congress did not get an opportunity; otherwise, we would have lost the Siachin glacier also. He questioned Congress's diplomacy after the 26/11 terror attack, where, under international pressure, Congress began talks with Pakistan within weeks of the attack.

"They could not cancel a single visa. No diplomat was asked to leave. Despite multiple terror attacks, Congress did not take back the 'most favoured nation' title from Pakistan. Congress did 'Aman ki Asha' conclaves," Modi said.

"Who did the Indus water treaty? Nehru ji. They were rivers originating in India. Was this in the national interest? What kind of diplomacy was this that we got only 20 per cent of their water, while 80 per cent water was given to that country, which considers India its enemy," he added.

"Nehru even gave crores of rupees to Pakistan to construct canals. Our dams were not even allowed to have a desilting feature. At one of our dams, the desilting gate has been welded. Pakistan made Nehru write that India cannot do the desilting of its dams," Modi said.

"Later, Nehru also realised his mistake. In a book by Gulati, Nehru is quoted as saying that the Indus water treaty did not help us in solving other issues. This caused harm to our farmers, this was Nehru's diplomacy," the PM continued.

"Even later, Congress governments did not review the Indus Water Treaty and did not correct Nehru's mistakes. But now we have taken strong action against Nehru's blunder, suspending this treaty," Modi said, adding, "Water and blood cannot flow together."

The PM claimed that Congress's appeasement and vote bank politics is to be blamed for its soft stance on terrorism, citing the example of Sonia Gandhi, without taking her name, crying after the Batla House encounter.

"The Congress tried to prove the 26/11 attack as saffron terror. They even said that Hindu outfits are a bigger threat than the Lashkar-e-Taiba. For appeasement, Congress weakened laws related to terrorism," Modi said.

Action against Pakistan

"We identified the places that trained, funded and facilitated terrorists and targeted them with 100 per cent precision. On the morning of 7 May, our army held a press conference to assert that we have completed our target," the PM said.

However, Modi added that Pakistan's support for terrorists compelled us to carry out another batch of airstrikes on 9 May at the airbases of Pakistan that forced Pakistan to 'kneel down.' He also gave a few funny examples of common Pakistanis' reactions.

"Pakistan called DGMO saying bas karo, bahut maara, please stop the attack," the PM said, asserting that our policy of targeting terror centres was clear and our action was 'non-escalatory' and hence, we stopped the attack.

"No world leader asked India to stop the operation. On the night of 9 May, the US Vice President (VP) tried talking to me, but I couldn't talk to him due to meetings with the army. When I called back, the US VP told me that Pakistan is planning a big attack. I responded by saying that if Pakistan, indeed, is planning this, then Pakistan would have to bear heavy costs. We went on to destroy Pakistan's air defence system," he said.

Modi praised India's air defence system that destroyed Pakistan's missiles and drones. "On 9 May, Pakistan attacked with 1,000 missiles and armed drones. These missiles could have caused huge devastation, but India destroyed them in the air only," he said.

"Pakistan tried to propagate false news of an attack on Adampur airbase, but I went there the other day to counter this false claim," Modi added. He concluded his speech by asserting that Operation Sindoor is still on.

Defence self-reliance

"Operation Sindoor is a proof of India's empowerment. During the Congress rule, there was no thought of making our armies self-reliant. We were dependent on other countries for even small weapons. There were not even bulletproof jackets," PM said.

"Our armies had to wait for decades for advanced equipment. Historically, we were ahead in defence equipment manufacturing, but after independence, our ecosystem was weakened. If we had not changed the course, we couldn't think about Operation Sindoor," he said.

"We vowed to make India a modern nation. A series of reforms, including in the army, like the appointment of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) were done. The jointness and integration of forces increased our power manifold," the PM said.

Modi added that the opening of the defence sector for private companies has given a boost to defence startups, especially those involved in drone manufacturing, which has helped us a lot in Operation Sindoor.

"Make-in-India was not just a slogan, but we took necessary initiatives with a clear-cut vision and budget allocation. In the last decade, the defence budget has tripled. Defence production has increased by 250 per cent. Defence export is 30 times, reaching 100 nations," he said.

"India has made its mark in the defence market. The demand for Indian weapons is increasing, giving more and more employment opportunities," the PM asserted, calling out the opposition's unhappiness over this progress.

"Defence self-reliance is needed for world peace. India is not a country of yuddh (war), but of Buddha, but we should not forget that prosperity and peace can come only with power," Modi said, remembering Chhatrapati Shivaji, Rajendra Chola, Maharana Pratap and Lasith Borphukan.