Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday defended India’s recent military action against Pakistan, terming Operation Sindoor a “brilliantly chosen name” with deep symbolic resonance. He was speaking at the National Press Club as part of an Indian parliamentary delegation, which is engaging with global interlocutors on New Delhi’s counter-terrorism response.
“Operation Sindoor, actually, I thought was a brilliantly chosen name,” Tharoor told journalists and foreign policy analysts. “Sindoor is a vermilion mark applied to the forehead of married women in Hindu tradition — it's a symbol of marital sanctity. These brutal terrorists wiped that symbol off the foreheads of 26 Indian women. So we wanted to avenge that act of wiping off the sindoor.”
Referring to the Pahalgam attack on April 22, in which 26 civilians were killed, Tharoor added, “There is a Hindi expression, khoon ka badla khoon — here it was sindoor ka badla khoon — blood in response to what they have done to the sindoor.”
#WATCH | Washington DC | "...It's no accident that the colour of the Sindoor is that bright vermilion red, which is not far from the colour of blood. There is a Hindi expression that 'khoon ka badla khoon'; here it was 'Sindoor ka badla khoon'," says Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in… pic.twitter.com/HjJVyBGt8x
— ANI (@ANI) June 4, 2025
The Pahalgam killings, attributed to Pakistan-sponsored militants, were followed by a coordinated Indian military response named Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7. According to Tharoor, the Indian Air Force struck 11 Pakistani airbases in a calibrated offensive that “delivered a significant blow” to Islamabad’s air capabilities.
Also read: 'Talks only if terror ends': Tharoor on India-Pakistan dialogue
“India not only effectively struck 11 airfields of the Pakistani military, but Pakistan has publicly admitted that Indian strikes were so wide-ranging and effective that they reached from Hyderabad in the south to Peshawar in the northwest,” he said.
Tharoor further stated that commercial satellite imagery had shown craters on runways and destroyed operational command centres — indicating both the precision and scale of the strikes.
The Congress leader’s remarks come amidst a series of diplomatic engagements by an all-party Indian delegation, which is currently visiting major global capitals in an effort to build support for India’s evolving counter-terrorism doctrine.
The delegation also met members of the bipartisan US-India Caucus, including co-chairs Representatives Ro Khanna and Rich McCormick, to brief them on India’s cross-border security concerns and seek a broader understanding of New Delhi’s strategic posture.
“India has long been a victim of state-sponsored terrorism emanating from across the border,” Tharoor noted. “We are now drawing the line — and making it clear that our response will be firm, proportionate, and precise.”
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