Kiren Rijiju invokes Ramayan’s ‘Laxman Rekha’ reference ahead of Op Sindoor debate in Lok Sabha: ‘Pakistan crossed…’

As the Lok Sabha prepares to discuss Operation Sindoor on Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju invoked Ramayan’s ‘Laxman Rekha’ reference and said Pakistan crossed the red lines drawn by India.

“Discussion on #OperationSindoor to begin today… When Ravan crossed the Laxman Rekha, Lanka burned. When Pakistan crossed the red lines drawn by India, terrorist camps faced the fire,” Rijiju wrote in both English and Hindi in a post on X.

Operation Sindoor, the Indian military response to the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 lives in April, will be debated at 12 PM in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing monsoon session.

In a post almost two hours prior to the start of Monday’s session, Rijiju posted his tweet with a song in Kailash Kher’s voice, whose lyrics said the operation was for India’s “aan, baan, swabhimaan” (dignity, pride, self-respect).

The one-minute clip begins with PM Narendra Modi’s Hindi line dedicating Operation Sindoor to “every mother, sister, and daughter of the country.”

The MPs have agreed to discuss the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha on Monday and in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

Both sides, the MPs from the ruling NDA and the ones from the Opposition, have consented to a marathon 16-hour debate in each House, which invariably stretches longer in practice.

According to the listed agenda of the Lok Sabha, the House will have a “special discussion on India’s strong, successful and decisive Operation Sindoor in response to terrorist attack in Pahalgam”.

In addition to its battery of ministers and leaders like Anurag Thakur, Sudhanshu Trivedi, and Nishikant Dubey, the ruling NDA is expected to field members from the seven multi-party delegations that 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.

However, a big question remains on whether Shashi Tharoor, who led the delegation to the US, among other countries, will be picked as a speaker by the Congress. The seasoned Lok Sabha member’s enthusiastic endorsement of the government’s action following the terror attack has soured his ties with his party.