Centre agrees to 16-hr discussion on Op Sindoor, Pahalgam terror attack in LS

NEW DELHI: Amid noisy and vociferous protests by the Opposition, which was adamant on demanding a discussion on Operation Sindoor and other issues, the Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Monday, the opening day of the Monsoon session.

In a significant development during the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting of the Lok Sabha in the afternoon, the government indicated its readiness to provide a 16-hour discussion on a series of urgent national matters—including the sensitive Operation Sindoor—brought up by the Opposition next week, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on tour to the United Kingdom and the Maldives from July 23 to 26.

The announcement follows as both Houses of Parliament are gearing up for a hectic legislative schedule, running from July 21 to August 21, with 21 sittings in 32 days. An adjournment for just five days, from August 12 to 17, will intervene during the Independence Day week, after which the Houses will again assemble on August 18. Operation Sindoor—India’s precision military response targeting terror camps in Pakistan following the April 22 Pahalgam attack that claimed the lives of 26 people, mostly tourists—will dominate the agenda during the session. The ongoing Monsoon session marks the first full sitting of Parliament since Operation Sindoor. The Opposition has called not only for a full explanation but also for strategic input into the response of the government and its wider ramifications for national security.

The ongoing controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters’ rolls in Bihar is another key issue on which the opposition parties have raised questions over both the timing and motivation of the revision, with suggestions of potential efforts to rig the electoral process before the coming state assembly elections. The government, however, has firmly rejected these charges as far as anything being a routine administrative activity undertaken by the Election Commission.

The Opposition is also demanding an explanation from the government following U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated claims of mediation in peace talks or a ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan—claims rejected by New Delhi time and again as unfounded.

The Business Advisory Committee—a crucial pillar in the management of Parliament’s legislative agenda—will have a determining role in ensuring organised debate. With 15 members and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha as its chairperson, the BAC has the mandate to distribute discussion hours and frame the agenda of the House. Its sessions act as a forum for inter-party consensus-building.

Earlier, when the Lok Sabha reconvened at 4 pm after the third adjournment, Dilip Saikia, who was in the Chair, urged members to allow a bill on readjustment of Goa Assembly seats to be taken up.

However, the opposition continued raising slogans over its demand for a discussion on Operation Sindoor. In the afternoon also, after the second adjournment, the Chair appealed to opposition members to allow the House to function. Amid continuous sloganeering, Sandhya Ray adjourned the proceedings till 4 pm. The House was adjourned over the same issues earlier in the day.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh assured the opposition MPs that the government is ready to have a long discussion on all issues that the Speaker agrees to.

“The government is ready to discuss any topic the opposition wants. Whatever time they need to discuss, the government is ready to answer all questions,” Singh said.

“The government is ready to reply to all the issues that the Speaker agrees to at the BAC meeting. But to raise slogans and not let the House function on the first day of the Monsoon session is unacceptable,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said in the House.

As opposition members continued to protest in the Well, Jagdambika Pal, who was in the Chair, asked them to return to their seats and assured them that Speaker Om Birla would allow them to raise all matters that they wanted to discuss.

Earlier, when the Lok Sabha met at 11 am, after obituary references, opposition members led by the Congress were up on their feet as they insisted on a discussion on Operation Sindoor.

Birla said he was ready to allow the members to raise all issues, including Operation Sindoor, after Question Hour—the first hour of the day when members raise questions related to different ministries and departments.

“I will allow you to raise all issues after Question Hour. The House will function according to rules and regulations. I cannot allow sloganeering and raising of placards,” he said. Birla said if the members give notice, he will allow them to raise all issues and give enough time to each of the MPs.

“You want a discussion on Operation Sindoor; I will allow it after Question Hour. The government is ready to reply to all issues,” he said.