Monday onwards, after first week of disruptions, Parliament is set to give way to a fiery debate on the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, expecting locking of horns by the ruling alliance and the Opposition. The BJP-led ruling National Democratic Alliance and Opposition parties are expected to field their top guns during the discussion in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
BJP MPs said Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be speaking on the issues amid indications that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may make an intervention to convey his Government’s “robust” stand against terrorism.
Leaders of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, may lead the charge against the Government along with Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, besides a host of other members.
After the first week of session ended up a virtual washout due to Opposition protests on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and other issues, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had said that the Opposition has agreed to the start of a discussion on the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha on Monday and in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. The two sides have consented to a marathon 16-hour debate in each House, which invariably stretches longer in practice.
Besides its battery of Ministers and leaders like Anurag Thakur, Sudhanshu Trivedi and Nishikant Dubey, the ruling NDA is expected to field its members from the seven multi-party delegations that had travelled to over 30 world capitals to present India’s case after Operation Sindoor.
They include Shrikant Shinde of the Shiv Sena, Sanjay Jha of the JD(U) and Harish Balayogi of the TDP, among others.
A big question mark is on whether Shashi Tharoor, who had led the delegation to the US among other countries, will be picked as a speaker by the Congress, as the seasoned Lok Sabha member’s enthusiastic endorsement of the Government’s action following the terror attack has soured his ties with his party. Opposition parties have framed their public criticism of the Government around alleged intelligence lapses behind the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which left 26 civilians killed, and US President Donald Trump’s claims of mediating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly attacked the Government’s foreign policy, claiming India did not receive international support on Operation Sindoor and has cited Trump’s frequent mediation claims to target the ruling alliance. The Government has rejected Trump’s claims. Modi, on his part, has lauded Operation Sindoor, which targeted terror sites in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack, for meeting 100 per cent of its objectives and proving the mettle of India’s indigenous defence weapons and platforms.