The Congress on Monday alleged that defence minister Rajnath Singh "lied" in Parliament that no soldier had been "martyred" during Operation Sindoor and demanded his resignation as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's apology over the issue.
The opposition party has accused the government of concealing the supreme sacrifice of six soldiers during Operation Sindoor and thus denying them the honour, in what it claimed was an "insult to our soldiers".
Congress' Ex-Servicemen Department chief Col Rohit Chaudhry (retd) alleged that the BJP talks about soldiers, but uses them as a prop to fire guns, seeks votes in the name of martyrs, and "insults them".
"When Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was lying in Parliament that no soldier had been martyred, the BJP MPs were clapping. None of these people have the right to sit in the House. Rajnath Singh has insulted the country's army and soldiers -- we demand his resignation," Chaudhry said at a press conference along with Wing Commander Anuma Acharya (retd).
The names of six military personnel -- five from the Indian Army and one from IAF -- who died in the line of duty during Operation Sindoor last year, was recently inscribed on a wall at the National War Memorial, as a tribute to the fallen heroes. This was the first time since the military operation conducted by the Indian armed forces in May 2025 that the government released the names of these six personnel.
Amid the row surrounding the six martyrs of Operation Sindoor, the defence ministry has said the nation paid homage to them at the "earliest opportunity", and their memory shall always be honoured with the dignity and reverence it deserves.
The government had earlier said some social media posts sought to "misrepresent" defence minister Singh's address in Parliament in July 2025 and "selectively" quoted an isolated portion of it to "falsely imply" that he had claimed that "no Indian soldier lost his life during Operation Sindoor".
In his remarks at the presser, Chaudhry claimed that Singh has "insulted" the martyrs of 'Operation Sindoor' and overlooked them.
"Singh lied in the House that no soldier was lost in 'Operation Sindoor'. Inside the BJP, only lies are told and deception is carried out...The foundation of the Modi government is built on lies; they have no right to remain in power," Chaudhry said.
The country is asking why it took 13 months for the names of our martyred soldiers to come to the fore, he said.
Putting forward the Congress' demands, Chaudhry said, "Our demands -- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh should be removed from his position. We urge our party to bring a breach of privilege motion against the defence minister. PM Narendra Modi and BJP MPs should publicly apologize for supporting Rajnath Singh's lies. Also, the Agniveer scheme should be completely abolished." Acharya said that before the BJP government came to power, there was a tradition that whoever made the supreme sacrifice for the country was publicly honoured with gratitude.
"But the Modi government, which politicizes the army and soldiers, has repeatedly betrayed the country and the soldiers," she said.
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