The ripples caused by Operation Sindoor are being felt far and wide in the form of claims, counter-claims and much else even weeks after India’s brief military engagement with Pakistan. It’s only natural that Congress parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor leading an all-party delegation to five countries including the US is being targeted by his own party heavyweights for his statements abroad that have allegedly “belittled” the grand old party. Tharoor’s was obviously an attempt to explain the “restraint” that India maintained in the face of provocations from Pakistan. Yet, it looked like a heap of praise for the Modi dispensation. His citation of India’s responses to terrorist attacks since 2015, including the surgical strikes past Uri, also underpinned the fact that such offensives had not taken place before. In a strong response, the Congress rubbished this claim. The principal opposition is obviously irritated at the way Tharoor presented things before an international audience.
By virtue of Tharoor’s major exposure to international diplomacy while holding top UN posts, he was perhaps the right man to go on such an explanation-expedition to the US etc., on India’s behalf. Those like Asaduddin Owaisi too could cut ice with the Islamic world by virtue of his own Islamic credentials. Several others in these delegations criss-crossing continents might not have as much clout or gift of the gab while in a foreign soil. The selection of Tharoor and Owaisi for this endeavour was not only due to the Modi establishment’s keenness to demonstrate a spirit of national unity, but due to other factors too. The BJP, raised from the inward-looking, fundamentalist Sangh Parivar, and its regional allies do not possess faces that can impress the world other than Modi or external affairs minister S Jaishankar. It could also be suspected that Tharoor might hereafter edge closer to the Modi establishment, much to the annoyance of the Congress. Those who criticised him might have got a silent nod from the high command itself or from president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Operation Sindoor obviously demonstrated India’s superior military power over a weak-kneed Pakistan especially at a time when the Islamic nation was faced with a serious financial downturn. Pakistan being looted by politicians and generals alike does not even have sufficient funds to buy passenger planes, other than for the iterations of huge external borrowings it keeps doing. On the other hand it must be said to the credit of the Modi government that it has strengthened the defence apparatus significantly in recent years, and topped it with Make in India or indigenous production/assembling of modern systems of warfare. The argument now is not that India could not match up to Pakistan’s military strength, but that Modi could not take full advantage of this emerging situation to effectively discipline Pakistan. Defence minister Rajnath Singh’s assertions of his forces having exercised abundant “restraint” during Operation Sindoor have only a limited appeal. Actions speak louder than words.
