Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, leading an all-party delegation to the United States, described ‘Operation Sindoor’ as a “brilliantly chosen name” during an interaction at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The delegation’s visit is part of India’s diplomatic outreach to highlight its stance on terrorism following the operation.
Tharoor elaborated on the significance of the operation’s name, stating:
“Operation Sindoor, actually, I thought was a brilliantly chosen name. Sindoor, in case some Americans obviously don’t know about this, is a vermilion mark that is applied to the centre of the forehead of married women in the Hindu tradition. It’s widely practised. Some non-Hindus do it too, but more for decorative purposes, but strictly speaking, the Sindoor is applied at the time of the marriage ceremony and is worn every day thereafter by married women. So, we were very conscious of these brutal terrorists who, by the way, shot men in front of their wives and children but spared the women and when one wife screamed out, Kill me too, she was told, no, you go back and tell them what we’ve done.”
He further emphasized the symbolism:
“That was why the women were spared horrendous, horrendous act. That sindoor had essentially been wiped off the foreheads of 26 Indian women, 26 I was gonna say Hindu women, but one of them actually was a Christian, but the sindoor had been wiped off the rest by these terrorist actions, and so we wanted first of all, to avenge that act of wiping off the sindoor. But, secondly, it’s no accident that the colour of the sindoor is bright vermilion red, which is not far from the colour of blood, and in many ways there is a Hindi expression that ‘khoon ka badla khoon’; here it was ‘sindoor ka badla khoon’ hoga, that is, blood in response to what they have done to the sindoor.”
Addressing questions about India’s military response, Tharoor noted that operational details are closely held, but highlighted the effectiveness of the strikes.
“We’re not military folks, and our military are the only ones who really keep track of all of these things. But, I think the important message that came out was whatever may or may not have happened in the course of a conflict, neither side, by the way, talks about losses very much, and that’s partially because you know very well that operational details are very closely held with the senior military people. But, I can tell you one thing, whatever may or may not have happened, look what happened on the last, what turned out to be the last night of the conflict, when India not only effectively struck 11 airfields of the Pakistani military, but there are commercially available, publicly available satellite pictures showing the extensive damage done.
“There’s been craters on the runway, there have been operational command centers that have been busted by these Indian bombs, and just yesterday the Pakistanis publicly admitted that Indian strikes were so wide-ranging and effective they struck from as far as Hyderabad in South Pakistan to Peshawar in the northwest. So it looks very clear that whatever damage the Pakistanis believe they may have inflicted on India, it wasn’t sufficient to prevent India from inflicting such extensive damage on Pakistan that they decided to request us to stop, which we very happy to do.”
The delegation, comprising members from various political parties, including Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), G M Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita (all from BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora, met with bipartisan co-chairs Ro Khanna and Rich McCormick, as well as vice co-chairs Andy Barr and Marc Veasey of the India Caucus in the House of Representatives.
In a post on X, the Indian Embassy in the US stated:
“Bipartisan co-chairs @RoKhanna & @RepMcCormick and vice co-chairs @RepAndyBarr & @RepVeasey of India Caucus in the House of Representatives met with the visiting Parliamentary delegation led by @ShashiTharoor today.”
The embassy added:
“The parliamentary delegation briefed the Caucus members on the cross-border terrorism faced by India and India’s strong and resolute stance in the fight against terror. The Congressmen expressed unequivocal and bipartisan condemnation for the terror attack in Pahalgam. They expressed support for India’s right to respond to terrorism in the spirit of zero tolerance against terrorism. The Caucus members also hailed the strong strategic partnership between India and USA.”
The delegation also held discussions with the US House Foreign Affairs Committee leadership, including Chairman Brian Mast, Ranking Member Gregory Meeks, South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chair Bill Huizenga, and Ranking Members Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Ami Bera, as well as East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee Chair Young Kim.
The Indian Embassy noted:
“The all-party Parliamentary delegation led by @ShashiTharoor held candid & fruitful exchange with @HouseForeign Affairs Committee (HFAC) leadership. Chair @RepBrianMast, Ranking Member @RepGregoryMeeks, South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chair @RepHuizenga, Ranking Member @RepKamlagerDove, Ranking Member @RepBera and East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee @RepYoungKim greeted the delegation.”
“The Parliamentary delegation briefed the committee members on the success of Operation Sindoor in defining a new normal in India’s fight against cross-border terrorism. The Committee Leadership condemned the Pahalgam attack unequivocally. India and USA stand together in their unwavering resolve and fight against terrorism in all its forms.”
The delegation’s visit to the US follows their outreach in Brazil, aiming to brief key stakeholders on Operation Sindoor, India’s diplomatic initiative launched in response to the April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which resulted in the deaths of 26 individuals, including 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen.