'Brilliantly Chosen Name': In US, Shashi Tharoor Says India's Operation Sindoor Avenged Blood

Last Updated:June 05, 2025, 09:48 IST

Shashi Tharoor, leading an all-party delegation in the US, praised India's 'Operation Sindoor', calling it a symbolic and strategic response to the Pahalgam terror attack.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor (Source: X/@ShashiTharoor)

Praising India’s counter-terrorism strikes against Pakistan, Shashi Tharoor, in the United States, said ‘Operation Sindoor’ was a “brilliantly chosen name" and noted that the colour of the ‘sindoor‘ (vermilion) is not very different from the colour of the blood.

Speaking at the National Press Club in the US, Tharoor said, “Operation Sindoor, actually, I thought was a brilliantly chosen name. ‘Sindoor‘, in case some Americans obviously don’t know about this, is a vermilion mark that is applied to the centre of the forehead of married women in the Hindu tradition. It’s widely practised."

“Some non-Hindus do it too, but more for decorative purposes, but strictly speaking, the ‘sindoor‘ is applied at the time of the marriage ceremony and is worn every day thereafter by married women."

“So, we were very conscious of these brutal terrorists who, by the way, shot men in front of their wives and children but spared the women and when one wife screamed out, ‘Kill me too’, she was told, no, you go back and tell them what we’ve done," the Congress MP said.

“That was why the women were spared, it was a horrendous, horrendous act. That ‘sindoor‘ had essentially been wiped off the foreheads of 26 Indian women, 26 I was gonna say Hindu women, but one of them actually was a Christian, but the ‘sindoor‘ had been wiped off the rest by these terrorists, and so we wanted first of all, to avenge that act of wiping off the ‘sindoor‘," Tharoor said.

“But, secondly, it’s no accident that the colour of the ‘sindoor‘ is bright vermilion red, which is not far from the colour of blood, and in many ways there is a Hindi expression which says ‘khoon ka badla khoon‘ (a bloody revenge for someone’s killing). Here it was ‘sindoor ka badla khoon‘, that is, blood in response to what they have done to the ‘sindoor‘," he added.

Tharoor is leading the all-party delegation to the US. The delegation is visiting key global capitals as part of the government’s big diplomatic outreach to highlight its stand on terrorism following ‘Operation Sindoor’.

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During the interaction, Tharoor was asked about the number of aircraft India lost in the conflict with Pakistan, to which he responded, “We’re not military folks, and our military is the only ones who really keep track of all of these things."

“But, I think the important message that came out was whatever may or may not have happened in the course of a conflict, neither side, by the way, talks about losses very much, and that’s partially because you know very well that operational details are very closely held with the senior military people," Tharoor said.

“But, I can tell you one thing, whatever may or may not have happened, what turned out to be the last night of the conflict, when India not only effectively struck 11 airfields of the Pakistani military, but there are commercially available, publicly available satellite pictures showing the extensive damage done," he added.

“There have been craters on the runway, there have been operational command centers that have been busted by these Indian bombs, and just yesterday, the Pakistanis publicly admitted that Indian strikes were so wide-ranging and effective they struck from as far as Hyderabad in South Pakistan to Peshawar in the northwest," Tharoor said.

“So, it looks very clear that whatever damage the Pakistanis believe they may have inflicted on India, it wasn’t sufficient to prevent India from inflicting such extensive damage on Pakistan. So, they decided to request us to stop, which we were very happy to do," he added.

The delegation led by Tharoor includes Shambhavi Chaudhary (Lok Janshakti Party), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), GM Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Shashank Mani Tripathi, Tejaswi Surya, Bhubaneswar Kalita (all from BJP), Mallikarjun Devda (Shiv Sena), former Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora.

The delegation arrived in the US after concluding their visit to Brazil, and also held a meeting with the US House Foreign Affairs Committee leadership in Washington, DC, HFAC Chairman Brian Mast, Ranking Member of the committee, Gregory Meeks, South and Central Asia Subcommittee Chair Bill Huizenga, Ranking members – Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Ami Bera, Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific Chair, Young Kim.

As many as 26 people were killed and several others were injured in a terrorist attack in Baisaran valley of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22.

Among the victims were 25 Indian nationals and one Nepali citizen.

In response to the Pahalgam attack, the Indian Armed Forces launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ on May 7 and targeted terror infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in the killing of more than 100 terrorists.

India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on May 10.

ALSO READ | ‘India Never Asked Trump To Mediate’, Says Tharoor In US Amid Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Surrender’ Remark Row

Vani Mehrotra

Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks.

Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks.

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