Members of the Opposition staged a walkout from the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, insisting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi address the House regarding Operation Sindoor. The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, stated, “There was a demand from the Opposition that the PM should come to the House and give a reply. If the PM doesn’t come to the House despite being present in Parliament premises, then it is an insult to the House.”
VIDEO | Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge), along with other opposition leaders, walks out of the Rajya Sabha.
(Source: Third Party)
(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/rJVNbzIiVj
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 30, 2025
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, responding to the uproar, confirmed that the Prime Minister was present in his office at the time. Shah also asserted that the Opposition could engage in lengthy discussions but had no authority to decide who would respond on behalf of the government in the House.
“It was decided in the Business Advisory Committee that the discussion would go on for as long as the Opposition wanted, but who will reply — that will be decided by the government and Prime Minister Modi,” Shah said.
Watch: Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, “It was decided in the Business Advisory Committee that the discussion would go on for as long as the Opposition wanted, but who will reply — that will be decided by the government and Prime Minister Modi…” pic.twitter.com/PP8JqcNceB
— IANS (@ians_india) July 30, 2025
“I want to respond to those asking about the Prime Minister. I am here addressing their concerns. PM Modi is very much in office. If I can respond and clarify, then why insist on hearing from him?” he remarked.
VIDEO | Parliament Monsoon Session: Union Home Minister Amit Shah (@AmitShah ), addressing the Rajya Sabha, says, “I want to respond to those asking about the Prime Minister. I am here addressing their concerns. PM Modi is very much in office. If I can respond and clarify, then… pic.twitter.com/evD6yodURD
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 30, 2025
Despite Shah’s intervention, Opposition members walked out, continuing to press their demand that the Prime Minister speak directly on the matter.
“On most important issues, the Congress party never allows Mallikarjun Kharge to speak — and now they are raising the issue,” Amit Shah further quipped.
Watch: Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, “It was decided in the Business Advisory Committee that the discussion would go on for as long as the Opposition wanted, but who will reply — that will be decided by the government and Prime Minister Modi…” pic.twitter.com/PP8JqcNceB
— IANS (@ians_india) July 30, 2025
Jaishankar Rules Out Mediation, Denies Trump’s Claims
During a special discussion on Operation Sindoor in the Upper House, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar dismissed any suggestions of third-party mediation in halting hostilities with Pakistan. He made it clear that the ceasefire was not influenced by trade interests, countering claims made by former US President Donald Trump.
“There was no leader, nobody in the world that asked India to stop its operations,” Jaishankar declared, adding, “There was no linkage of trade in any of these conversations and there was no talk between the Prime Minister and President Trump.” He clarified that there had been no calls between Modi and Trump from April 22, the day of the Pahalgam terror attack, to June 16.
Jaishankar stated that while several countries, including the US, EU, and Saudi Arabia, had contacted India during this time, they were all told that any request to end fighting must come via Pakistan’s Director General of Military Operations (DGMO).
Jaishankar said that Operation Sindoor marked a decisive and calculated retaliation to the Pahalgam terror strike and reflected a transformation in India’s approach to terrorism. Emphasising that the operation has set a “new normal”, he said, “India will hit whenever Pakistan attacks it and will not buckle under any nuclear threat.”
The minister said the strike served a global purpose by dismantling key terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan, including in Bahawalpur and Muridke. He added that video evidence of terrorist funerals and destroyed airfields in Pakistan should serve to silence those mocking India’s actions.
He also made a veiled dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, referring to him as “China-guru” while accusing earlier Congress regimes of allowing strategic closeness between China and Pakistan by handing over parts of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to Beijing in the 1960s.
Operation Sindoor A Shift in Policy, Says EAM
Jaishankar outlined that the response to the Pahalgam attack was swift, with the Cabinet Committee on Security meeting the very next day, April 23, to decide on retaliatory action. He said India communicated clearly that the targets hit on May 7 were verified terror hubs in Pakistan.
On May 9, US Vice President J.D. Vance called Prime Minister Modi to alert him about an anticipated Pakistani offensive. Jaishankar said the PM responded firmly, making it known that any such move would invite a fitting response—one that soon followed and “disabled the entire Pakistani air defence system”.
He reiterated, “If that fighting has to stop, Pakistan must make a request and that request must come from the channel of Pakistan’s DGMO.”
The minister also declared India’s decision to suspend the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack. He said the treaty, signed by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was not for peace but for appeasement—an error the Modi government has now corrected.
