New Delhi: As the Opposition has already launched a narrative war over Operation Sindoor, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced a 10-day country-wide Tiranga Yatra beginning Tuesday to highlight the achievements of the armed forces and the Modi government.
The Congress had already brought out Jai Hind Yatras in Delhi, Bengaluru, Patna, Imphal and Jaipur across the country.
From senior leaders like Vinod Tawde and Tarun Chugh to top ministers in various roles for the programme, the BJP brass will be looking to reach out to the citizens during the Tiranga Yatra. The yatra comes in the backdrop of the Opposition raising question marks on America’s interference to broker a ceasefire with Pakistan, and, thereby, compromising India’s position on Kashmir.
Earlier, the party was keeping a ‘wait and watch’ situation as any yatra would make bad optics, especially when the message had gone that Operation Sindoor was still on, ThePrint has learnt. Nevertheless, the BJP’s Bihar unit Saturday announced a state-wide Tiranga Yatra. The Karnataka BJP unit, too, brought out a similar yatra Sunday in Bengaluru.
Overall, the BJP is trying to mould the public opinion that India delivered a knockout punch to Pakistan under the Prime Minister’s leadership—one that saw a nuclear power obliterate terror infrastructure in another nuclear state.
BJP MP president V.D. Sharma told ThePrint that the party decided that the valour of armed forces should be celebrated. “Under the PM’s leadership, India avenged the Pahalgam terror attack. It has never happened in the past 50 years when one nuclear power destroyed terror camps in another country with nuclear weapons. It should be celebrated,” he added.
The party has already fielded its top guns, right from B.L. Santhosh to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, to hail Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and to blunt the Opposition narrative of the government allowing US President Donald Trump to meddle in the bilateral issue of Kashmir.
The frontline leaders are amplifying the message that India achieved its objective by destroying Pakistan air bases and terror camps and that a full-fledged war was not the objective.
“This is an extraordinary achievement. To strike deep inside Pakistan and eliminate their terror camps… This is Naya Bharat. We attack them in their own backyards,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said Monday at a press briefing. “This is the first time that a country has struck deep inside a nuclear-armed nation.”
“After the Pahalgam terror attack, the PM promised that we will avenge the death of 26 people. The PM said that the revenge would be beyond the enemy’s imagination, and so it was. He had also said ‘mitti mein milayenge’ and ‘ghus ke maarenge’. That is what we did,” Patra added.
On Sunday, BJP general secretary B.L.Santhosh asserted that the ceasefire should be seen as an “understanding” and not an agreement.
Similarly, BJP Kerala chief Rajiv Chandrasekhar hailed the armed forces for delivering a strong message to the adversaries. “India has certainly never asked for or initiated any conflict. However, the response by the Indian Armed Forces tells you the capabilities they have developed over the last 10 years. The fact that 11 airfields were attacked tells how India’s offensive capabilities have grown during this period. Our air defence prevented even a single missile from entering India’s airspace, which shows how much our air defence has evolved,” he told news agency, PTI.
Also Read: Sindoor for Sindoor to Modi the avenger—decisive PM at core of BJP messaging after strikes on Pakistan
State units were already prepared
In Bihar, which goes to polls in the later half of the year, the BJP unit announced taking out Tiranga Yatras all over the eastern state on Sunday itself.
The Bihar unit, according to BJP insiders, had made a plea to the party high command the need to counter the Congress, which had brought a Tiranga Yatra on Friday. The next day, Congress state in charge Krishna Allavaru, Congress state president Rajesh Kumar along with several other senior leaders, took out a rally in Patna.
It is now learnt that the BJP high command gave permission to the Bihar unit to hold the yatra on Saturday afternoon only to halt it that night.
“For four days, the Indian government along with the armed forces were busy in making strategy for Operation Sindoor. The PM worked day and night to protect the citizens and lead from front in a critical situation. The Army gave a befitting reply to Pakistan. To celebrate Army valour, the entire country should show respect to the armed forces and PM Modi,“ Bihar BJP general secretary Jagannath Thakur told ThePrint.
Given the BJP’s status as a ruling party, another BJP leader told ThePrint, any yatra would have been construed as a move to gain political mileage. “So, the party did not give approvals but once de-escalation became clear, it’s now time to felicitate and celebrate the Army valour and the prime minister’s leadership.“
Various state units were already told to prepare for Tiranga Yatras, another party functionary said, adding that the BJP was aware that the Congress would “confuse” people by portraying that the Modi government was pushed to do ceasefire.
“They have started a campaign that Modi is not like Indira Gandhi who defeated Pakistan and forced its Army to surrender (in 1971). To counter their campaign, the party will use the nationalistic plank and hold Tiranga Yatras across states,” the functionary said.
On Sunday, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini had tweeted that he would participate in a Tiranga Yatra.
“At various places, the party unit is holding Vijay Yagya. Our prime minister and army have avenged the Pahalgam terror attack. The party will celebrate Army valour,” Rajasthan BJP president Madan Rathore told ThePrint.
The challenge, according to a BJP leader, is to dictate the narrative.
“We will have to convince the people that the ceasefire happened on our terms, that the prime minister taught Pakistan a lesson, that we made Pakistan to plead for the ceasefire. As the Opposition will try to confuse the people, we will have to give a befitting reply to take advantage on the narrative front,” this BJP functionary told ThePrint.
Adding to the challenges for the party is that strategic experts such as former Army chief General V.P.Malik (retired) as well as those even from the party like former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta have questioned the timing of the ceasefire.
Given that Congress leaders, right from Abhishek Manu Singhvi to Jairam Ramesh, have been extolling the courage of Indira Gandhi and questioning the conditions leading to the ceasefire, the BJP is pushing the narrative that India has made earlier ceasefire on its own terms. It is also pushing the message that the Modi government would keep the Indus Water Treaty under suspension despite the ceasefire.
On Saturday, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya claimed that the Simla Agreement in 1972 was made under American pressure. “The 1971 war ended with the surrender of the Pakistan Army. However, the subsequent Simla Agreement was shaped under pressure from both Moscow and Washington. India released 99,000 prisoners of war without gaining a single strategic advantage—no insistence on Pakistan vacating PoJK or formalizing the border, and no reparations for the war or the refugee influx forced on India. Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister at the time,” he posted on ‘X’.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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