All-Party Meeting Chaired By Rajnath Singh, In The Absence Of PM Modi

In the wake of India’s attack over terrorist launch pad in Pakistan, an all party meeting was held that was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. The meeting witnessed the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, and ministers JP Nadda and Nirmala Sitharaman from the government. 

From the opposition plank, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge represented the Congress, Sandip Bandyopadhyay from the Trinamool Congress and DMK's TR Baalu attended the meeting.

Moreover, other opposition leaders present in the meeting  included Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Sanjay Singh of the AAP, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Sanjay Raut, NCP (SP)'s Supriya Sule, AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, and BJD's Sasmit Patra.The government briefed about the success of the airstrike under ‘Operation Sindoor’ and its aftermath .

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge raised questions over the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the meeting. Notably, PM Modi  had also skipped the previous all-party meeting to brief the situation after the Pahalgam terror attack. The Opposition had then demanded the presence of PM Modi.

In parallel to the all party meeting, PM Modi today was holding  a key security meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan at around the same time.

The opposition this time is seen  in support and  praise of the armed forces as they destroyed nine terrorist camps linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) on 7th May. This is in contrast to their stance after the 2019 Balakot airstrikes.

The air strike of 7th may, carried out by the Army and the Air Force, were in response to the attack in Pahalgam, where 26 innocent civilians lost their lives carried out by Pakistan-based terrorists. 

Meanwhile, the Centre directed all states to intensify surveillance of anti-national propaganda on social media and take swift action, sources said. The direction came amid a disinformation campaign by Pakistan after 'Operation Sindoor'.

The Congress Working Committee, which held a meeting on Wednesday, also sent out a message of unity and declared unconditional support to the government.