July 30, 2025
Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen’s speech during the Special Discussion on Operation Sindoor
: Thank you, Deputy Chairman, Sir, for giving me a chance to speak on this subject. And thanks to my party, All India Trinamool Congress and our respected leader, hon. Mamata Banerjee, for giving me this opportunity to speak. I will try to deliver my speech in Bangla, our beloved mother tongue. *“Sir, it is most unfortunate that despite repeated demands from the opposition, there was no special Session of Parliament on this issue. After three months, only now is this matter being discussed in Parliament for two or three days. Yet neither the Prime Minister, nor the Home Minister, nor even the Defence Minister has expressed any sorrow over the deaths of so many innocent citizens. They show no regret—it’s not just a lack of empathy; they are not even sorry.” It is not only that they are not feeling guilty; they are not even sorry. It is so unfortunate, Sir. “Such inhuman, insensitive rulers—this BJP government! Even while standing in the house, the External Affairs Minister is not being truthful, Sir—untruth, untruth, untruth! So sad, sir, so unfortunate!” When it came to the Pahalgam operation, on every such issue, the opposition supported the Union Government. But the hon. Prime Minister, instead, indulged in petty, low-level politics by blaming the Opposition for no reason. Not once did he mention intelligence failure, or that the Home Ministry might share some responsibility for the incident in Pahalgam, later also in Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu—so many innocents, ordinary people, so many army jawans, officers, pilots lost their lives. Yet, there is no regret, no sorrow from this Government.” “After 26/11, within four days, on November 30, 2008, the then Home Minister of India resigned, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra resigned. But here, forget even the Home Minister resigning—the head of the intelligence agency gets their term extended, gets rewarded! The Home Minister had also just spent three days in Jammu and Kashmir immediately before the Pahalgam incident. He had made grand announcements. Yet, how astonishing, after such a colossal failure, there is only arrogance! Sir, just unacceptable, condemnable—it is unimaginable. During the abrogation of Article 370, too, in a completely undemocratic manner, the Treasury Benches had suspended many opposition Members from the Rajya Sabha. That is how they passed the Bill. And what did they claim then? That terrorism would end and there would be peace and paradise in Kashmir. Has that happened? The Pahalgam incident completely disproved those claims and turned them to dust—utter dust! Yet, do they show any shame? Why couldn’t the intelligence agencies give prior warning? Why were there no guards at Baisaran Valley at that time? Why were tourists told everything was safe and allowed? Who will answer for so many deaths? Just like Pulwama, for Pahalgam too, we will never get any answers. One month, two months, three months—over 100 days have passed. Still, no trace of those terrorists. And suddenly, right after the parliamentary discussion begins, they eliminated three of them. So, did the Home Minister actually arrest these terrorists earlier just to kill them off at the time of the parliamentary debate and silence the opposition? So, astonishing, Sir. Or is this just a staggering coincidence? How can such a coincidence happen every time? Why was Article 370 removed, and under what context did a democratically elected Government make this decision, erasing that history, misleading everyone, and unilaterally abrogating it? The unique distinctiveness of the people of Kashmir—by repeatedly attacking it, isn’t this government only fostering even more terrorism? When the Standing Committee on Labour visited Srinagar, Dal Lake, Pahalgam, Sonamarg, Gulmarg, Jammu—everywhere, the ordinary people said only one thing: since independence, ours was a State. Now they’ve demoted us to a Union Territory. We cannot accept this. For such a big decision, shouldn’t the opinion of J&K’s people have been considered? Shouldn’t there have been a referendum? We are grateful to the ordinary people of Kashmir—because even after knowing that the terrorists killed selectively after knowing people’s religion, to stop this terrorism, the people of Kashmir spoke out, united, marched, protested—they played a strong role. We salute them. But merely handing over Kashmir to big corporates and businessmen is not enough. The poor people there—where will they go? What will they eat? Tourism is one of the key ways to survive there, and that has utterly collapsed. So, what are people to do now? It is tragic, that in the long speeches of the Prime Minister of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” , “Make In India”—the Prime Minister of a “Viksit Bharat”—there is not a word about this problem or its solution. He said that no leader from any country has told him to have a ceasefire. He even mentioned the American Vice President’s words. But the US President himself said—not once, but multiple times—that he is the one who compelled the two nations to declare a ceasefire. Our Prime Minister, however, did not counter this—neither previously, nor now, even while standing in Parliament. Sir, why couldn’t our macho “56-inch chest” Prime Minister claim in Parliament that what the US President is saying is not true? Even yesterday, after the PM’s speech, the US President repeated the same thing. So, who is right: the US President, or our hon. Prime Minister? No matter how much applause you give, what we are learning now is that the US President is our ultimate ruler, our killer—whatever he says will be done; our two countries have no autonomy to resolve issues ourselves. Why did our PM avoid, why did he hide from answering? What is he so afraid of? Is it threats of higher tariffs from foreign countries? Have we bowed our heads to such threats? So unfortunate Sir. Who can forget that in 2008, our then Gujarat Chief Minister Modi ji had given a press conference outside the Trident Hotel in Mumbai after 26/11, and the BJP took out advertisements in the papers. ‘Brutal terror strikes at will; weak Government, unwilling and incapable’”… ‘Fight terror. Vote for BJP’. This was the advertisement of the BJP. “There should be a limit to hypocrisy? Isn’t it? So, we are stating unequivocally: this Government has blood on its hands. That is why the nation and its people demand clear answers. This arrogance, this overconfidence, will not have the last word—people have brought you down from 303 to 240, and after this, they will reduce you below 200. And finally: some people are calling West Bengal “West Bangladesh.” One minute, Sir. Sir, we will adjust it within our Party’s time. Sir, one minute only. “The Government has spent 350 crores of rupees of people’s money… but not a single nation supported India.
