New Delhi [India], August 9 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Chalavadi Narayanaswamy on Saturday hailed Operation Sindoor and said that the truth had come out after Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal AP Singh confirmed that Indian Armed Forces had destroyed at least five Pakistani fighter aircraft and one large aircraft.
"War strategies are different from political strategies. War strategies are all defence issues. Sitting in an AC room, Congress or BJP or any other party cannot take decisions. It is a matter of the defence. But the Congress party is always talking like a childish leadership... Now the truth is coming out..."
Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, earlier today, addressing an event at HAL Management Academy in Bengaluru, said, "We have at least five fighters with confirmed kills and one large aircraft, which could be either an ELINT aircraft or an AEW&C aircraft, which was taken on at a distance of about 300 kilometres. This is actually the largest ever recorded surface-to-air kill that we can talk about."
He also credited the "political will" of the Central government for the success of Operation Sindoor that allowed the Indian Armed Forces (IAF) to conduct the operations without any constraints.
"A key reason for success was the presence of political will. There was very clear political will and very clear direction given to us. No restrictions were put on us... If there were any constraints, they were self-made. The forces decided what the rules of engagement would be. We decided how we wanted to control the escalation. "We had full freedom to plan and execute," Air Chief Marshal AP Singh said.
Earlier, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, had questioned the Indian government's "political will" during the discussion on Operation Sindoor in Parliament.
"You told the Pakistanis exactly what you would do. You told them we would not hit military targets; you told them we do not want escalation... It means you have directly told Pakistan that you do not have the political will to fight. This is said by the Defence Minister. It means the government of India informed the Pakistani government that we have no political will; we don't want to fight. Surrender, immediate surrender in 30 minutes," the Congress MP said.
Referring to the remarks of Chief of Defence Staff Lieutenant General Anil Chauhan and Captain Shiv Kumar, Defence Attache, Indonesia, Rahul Gandhi had also alleged that India lost its fighter jets because armed forces were "constrained by political leadership".
The LoP stated, "Second thing he (Defence Minister) said - He told the Pakistanis that we are not going to hit any of your military infrastructure. This is an interesting fact. I said freedom of manoeuvre, meaning freedom for the air force. Captain Shiv Kumar, Defence Attache, Indonesia, says, "I may not agree with him that India lost so many aircraft, but I do agree we did lose some aircraft; that happened only because of the constraints given by the political leadership to not attack the military establishments and their air defence."
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 as a decisive military response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed. The Indian Armed Forces targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, leading to the death of over 100 terrorists affiliated with terror outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.
After the attack, Pakistan retaliated with cross-border shelling across the Line of Control and Jammu and Kashmir as well as attempted drone attacks along the border regions, following which India launched a coordinated attack and damaged radar infrastructure, communication centres and 11 airbases, including Nur Khan airbase in Pakistan.