How Prashant Kishor misrepresented Operation Sindoor

On 29 June, Prashant Kishor, a former election consultant and founder of Jan Suraaj, sharply criticised the Narendra Modi government's choice to halt military operations against Pakistan merely four days after initiating Operation Sindoor, which India conducted in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack. In an interview with the news agency ANI, he asked if Pakistan had indeed been "on its knees", why India opted to "compromise".

Kishor suggested that the decision to accept a ceasefire could adversely affect the BJP's prospects in the upcoming Bihar elections later this year.

He misquoted remarks made by both External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Home Minister Amit Shah to support his argument that if Pakistan had truly requested a ceasefire, indicating it was under considerable pressure, then India should have cashed in on the situation.

In response, The Squirrels and Breaking Tube held a discussion where Surajit Dasgupta made the following points:

Noting that Kishor's statements were misleading, he said he was disappointed when Operation Sindoor ended prematurely, but there were major flaws in the new politician's claims, which were as follows:

Claims of Prashant Kishor fact-checked

1. Operation Sindoor did not end in a day. It lasted for 4 days: May 7 to 10. The stretch owed to Pakistan’s attempt to get even with India militarily. A ceasefire was announced on the 10th, with the caveat that it was only being suspended.
2. What the government said
   1. “Government”, unlike what Kishor believes, does not include Foreign Minister S Jaishankar alone. The nation's primary source of information was press briefings by Indian defence forces that said there was actionable intelligence on only nine of the many terror camps. To ensure that India was not accused of belligerence, targets that India was not sure were harbouring terrorists were left out. The EAM said the same; Dasgupta said Kishor's memory is failing him.
   2. It was said in the first press conference itself that India did not want war, and India exercised utmost caution by not attacking any civilian or strategic installations of Pakistan. The OS assumed the shape of war when Pakistani warplanes tried to lock Indian warplanes including Indian strategic installations. India then destroyed 11 of Pakistan's war airbases to destroy its ability to attack.
3. Government is not responsible for media speculations. PK claimed to be basing his arguments on official statements, but he repeatedly based his arguments on claims made by irresponsible TV anchors like
   1. annexing PoK back to India and
   2. liberating Balochistan.
4. Home Minister Amit Shah has not spoken about any of 3(a) and 3(b) in the context of Operation Sindoor in or outside Parliament. These may be India's ultimate goals, but they were never the objectives of Operation Sindoor.
5. India did not succumb to nuclear blackmail. If it had, Operation Sindoor would never have happened. It lasted 4 days, as already mentioned.

Senior journalists @surajitdasgupta and @awanishvidyarth punch big holes on election managing businessman-turned-politician @PrashantKishor's misrepresentation of #OperationSindoor in this joint production by @breakingtube1 & @thesquirrelsin: pic.twitter.com/DOpGA3tr85

— The Squirrels (@thesquirrelsin) June 30, 2025

Assessment of Operation Sindoor and estimation of future Indian military action

There are many arguments against prolonging Operation Sindoor (much as its conclusion in 4 days disappointed many Indians).

India did not officially declare it a “war” before or during the OS (though Pakistan said that the nine attacks on the first day of the OS were India’s declaration of war on Pakistan). Official declaration of war comes at a cost. The warring country must be prepared for many restrictions on trade and investment. This is contrary to US President Donald Trump’s claim that his trade proposal or pressure led to the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan. Even without sanctions on the country, businesses around the world shy away from investing in a warring country. Prolonging the war would have reversed the economic success story of the last 11 years of the Narendra Modi government. Was the country willing to pay this price?

Operation Sindoor should have been considered to be over after India announced attacks on 9 targets in Pakistan and PoK. It continued for three more days only to foil Pakistan’s attempt to settle scores with India. In other words, an offensive action was taken on May 7 (in which SCALP and HAMMER missiles and bombs were used) while defensive action was taken on May 8, 9 and 10 (where India's Akash, Akash Arrow and S-400 Triumph intercepted Pakistani missiles and drones mid-air). From this perspective, despite our sentiments and India's official statement that OS has only been stopped, the objective of Operation Sindoor was, anyway, accomplished, and the 'war' had been dragged beyond the declared objective.

Because of Operation Sindoor, for the first time, Pakistan had to pay the price for harbouring terrorists. Earlier, in Indian action in response to Pakistani terrorism, only terrorists were killed, the Pakistani government that created the terrorists, i.e. the Pakistani Army, did not suffer any loss and the terrorists were also not bothered by it because the declared objective of the Jihadis is that they will become martyrs for their faith, whether it is for 72 fairies or because of the money received by Lashkar or Jaish from the Pakistan Army.

Operation Sindoor also had an undeclared and unexpected success. That was a bonus! It proved that the Chinese offensive and defensive equipment used by Pakistan is useless, and maybe it is time for the US to also realise that the era of its F-16s is over. This was the second time that Pakistan's US fighter jets proved useless after the failure to penetrate India in 2019.

If the 2016 surgical strike, 2019 air strike and 2025 missile strike show a pattern, then the Modi government is constantly raising its standards. Since Pakistan cannot give up Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's strategy of "making India bleed by giving it a thousand wounds", another retaliatory strike against Pakistani terrorism from India is bound to happen. This will be a real war, not a mere skirmish. Then our insatiable souls will be satisfied. Maybe PK's too!

Adding to the discourse, Breaking Tube's Awanish Vidyarthi said Kishor was infamous for not being able to maintain relationships both in business and politics. He wondered whether Kishor would be able to rally even members of his own caste community in this election.