The Congress on Saturday accused defence minister Rajnath Singh of misleading the nation by declaring last year in Parliament that “no soldiers were harmed” during Operation Sindoor, a day after the Centre revealed that six Indian armed forces personnel were killed during the cross-border military conflict and named them.

Sharing a clip of Rajnath’s speech in Parliament, Congress media and publicity head Pawan Khera on Saturday said there were “only two possibilities”.

“Either defence minister Rajnath Singh was unaware, when addressing Parliament, that six soldiers had already been martyred. If that is the case, it raises a grave question mark over that minister, who lacks knowledge of the very ministry he leads,” he said in a post on X. “Or else, he knew the truth and yet chose to mislead Parliament. That is even more serious, because it proves that this government lies to the nation...”

During the special debate in Parliament on Operation Sindoor on July 28, 2025, Rajnath had said: “If you want to ask questions, then ask if any of our soldiers were harmed in this operation. The answer is no.”

Khera said the sacrifice of the six soldiers — Subedar Major Pawan Kumar, Rifleman Sunil Kumar, Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar, Agniveer Murali Naik, Havildar Sunil Kumar Singh and air force Sergeant Surendra Kumar — was concealed.

The defence ministry on Saturday said social media posts had misrepresented Rajnath’s address. It said: “These posts have selectively quoted an isolated portion of the speech to falsely imply that the Raksha Mantri claimed that no Indian soldier lost his life during Operation Sindoor. These are deliberately misleading and factually incorrect.”

The ministry said Rajnath had merely countered the "falsehood" that India had lost pilots during Sindoor.