Operation Sindoor: India’s Political Leaders Unite Against Cross-Border Terrorism
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Seven Indian delegations involving nearly 40 parliamentarians from BJP, as well as Congress and other opposition parties, are visiting 33 countries to brief on the "cross-border terror nexus", following the Pahalgam terror attack.
The unity of Indian political class on tackling the decades-old threat of cross-border terrorism has been one of the strongest outcomes of Operation Sindoor, which is India's military and diplomatic response to the Pahalgam terrorist attack, political analysts aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress have told Sputnik India.
"It is heartening to see that one of the outcomes of the Pahalgam terrorist attack is that the entire India has come together under a principled idea of being India to fight the common enemy. Opposition parties aren't using a tragedy to score brownie points," BJP politician Savio Rodrgues said.
Borrowing a phrase from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's lexicon, Rodrigues remarked that this what "New India" is all about.
"In spite of diverse political thought-processes, different religions, caste, creed, we stand united when it comes to the question of our country. We have shown to the world that India won't back down and we have run out of patience after being subjected to cross-border terrorist attacks for decades now," the BJP politician explained.
Rodrigues commented that there was a "message" for Pakistan from the political consensus in India.
"As spelled out by PM Modi, any future act of terrorism will be considered as an act of war. Another important message to have come out is the strategic clarity in viewing terrorism and the Pakistani military as two sides of the same coin. As stated by PM, cross-border terrorism is no longer Pakistan's proxy warfare, but a war strategy against India. The terrorism industry in Pakistan is state-sponsored and nobody knows it better than us in India," the ruling party politician pointed out.
Our message that we are trying to impress on the world is that this state-backed terrorism could become a problem for others in the region unless it is nipped in the bud, he said. It is rather heartening to see that all our political parties are on the same page and have firmly backed PM Modi on these points, Rodrigues added.
The sentiment is echoed by Sanjay Jha, a Nehruvian scholar (a follower of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru) and a former Congress spokesperson.
"As far as the issue of foreign policy and national security are concerned, all political parties sink their differences because they realise that the threat is formidable, dangerous and could only be addressed if everybody comes on the same page," Jha stated.
Jha credited PM Modi for recognising the immense talent and diplomatic finesse of Indian opposition leaders.
For instance, senior Congress leader and former federal minister Shashi Tharoor is leading an all-party delegation to the United States and Latin America. Similarly, Asaduddin Owaisi, a noted critic of PM Modi, is part of an MP delegation to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations. Another senior Congress leader and former minister Manish Tewari is part of the all-party delegation. Meanwhile, another senior opposition MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, led the Indian delegation to Russia.
"In sending these overseas delegations, they are doing what any mature government needs to do, which is to integrate the opposition in creating a diplomatic narrative. Internally as well, I think that the politics seems to have become a lot more transparent in the sense that the Opposition supports the government. It has supported the government in terms of steps taken, be it militarily or diplomatically, to protect our borders and internal security," Jha explained.
He emphasised that it was equally important for the opposition to question the government on the security and intelligence "lapses" in the lead-up to the Pahalgam terrorist attack.
"The Congress Party is also very upset about US President Donald Trump's claim of intervening in what is essentially a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan. The Opposition is also rightly concerned over the internationalisation of the Kashmir dispute. So, there are a lot of questions being asked by the Opposition. In a great number of ways, these questions would only make the Indian democracy stronger and more resilient," Jha stressed.
However, Jha said that that announcement of the 10 May ceasefire by Trump, instead of India or Pakistan, is what seems to have touched a raw nerve in India in particular.
"Under the Simla Pact of 1972, any disputes or conflicts between the two countries have to be addressed bilaterally without external interference. I believe that it was unprecedented and absolutely astonishing that Trump made the ceasefire announcement publicly before India or Pakistan did. Even in the past, we have had situations wherein there have been certain backchannel talks involving others, but these remained confined to the background," Jha noted.
The Congress-leaning analyst said that India can't compromise on certain principles, irrespective of the fact who is in power.
"No country which is an economic and a military power would want a third-party negotiation when it is not warranted," he said.
"The reason Congress is asking these questions is because it has been in power for the longest time since Independence. It has been successful in three wars against Pakistan- 1947, 1965 and 1971. And I do believe that nationalism is the narrative of the Congress Party, which spearheaded India's freedom movement. I believe that the BJP has been trying to appropriate the hyper-nationalism narrative, but even then, the Congress remains the guardian and champion of India's nationalism story," the former Congress spokesperson said.
Even neutral political observers have welcomed the across-the-aisle unity exhibited by Indian political class in the wake of Operation Sindoor.
"It is a very welcome development that MPs from various political parties are being represented in the all-party delegation formed to brief foreign governments on Operation Sindoor. The political mission shows that India is speaking in one voice when it comes to the issue of cross-border terrorism," Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, the author of PM Modi's biography, told Sputnik India.
