K.C. Venugopal moves privilege notice against Rajnath for ‘misleading’ Parliament about Operation Sindoor casualties

Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal on Tuesday (June 30, 2026) moved a privilege notice against Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in the Lok Sabha, accusing him of misleading Parliament by stating during the Operation Sindoor debate last year that no Indian soldier had been killed.

In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Mr. Venugopal sought initiation of privilege proceedings against the Defence Minister under Rule 223 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress leader said that during the discussion held on July 28, 2025, regarding the Pahalgam terror attack and subsequent Operation Sindoor, Mr. Singh had told the House that no harm had come to Indian soldiers.

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However, he noted that the government has since acknowledged that six personnel of the armed forces died during the military operation.

‘Contempt of the House’

“The Minister’s statement on the floor of the House that there had been no casualties during Operation Sindoor was clearly misleading and incorrect,” Mr. Venugopal said in the notice, adding that misleading Parliament or withholding information amounted to a breach of privilege and contempt of the House.

In a post on X, Mr. Venugopal, who heads the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), alleged that Mr. Singh had “lied to the people of India” during the debate.

“How could he, in July 2025, say that no Indian soldier was martyred, and then a year later the forces announce that we have lost six jawans?” he asked.

Insult to the families

He said withholding information about the deaths was an insult to the families of the personnel and the armed forces, adding that they had laid down their lives in defence of the nation.

The controversy erupted after the names of six personnel — five from the Indian Army and one from the Indian Air Force — who died during Operation Sindoor were inscribed on the National War Memorial, marking the first official disclosure of the casualties since the operation was carried out in May 2025.

Rejecting the Opposition’s allegations, the Defence Ministry said the nation had honoured the fallen personnel at the “earliest opportunity” and that their sacrifice would always be remembered with dignity and reverence.

It also accused “certain posts circulating on social media” of selectively quoting Mr. Singh’s July 28 speech to falsely suggest that he had claimed no Indian soldier had lost his life during Operation Sindoor, describing such claims as “deliberately misleading and factually incorrect”.

Operation Sindoor was launched in response to the April 22, 2025, terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, in which 26 people, mostly civilians, were killed.