Did Congress Conduct Surgical Strikes Six Times In Pakistan?

The question of whether the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government conducted surgical strikes during its tenure has long been a matter of political and public debate. While some Congress leaders have claimed that multiple surgical strikes were conducted during their rule, official records, RTI responses, and statements from senior military officials suggest otherwise. The narrative gained traction after the Narendra Modi-led government publicly acknowledged the surgical strike carried out on September 29, 2016, following the Uri terror attack. This was the first officially confirmed and documented cross-border military action in recent memory, and it set a precedent for transparency and strategic assertion.

In 2018, an RTI (Right to Information) query filed by Jammu-based activist Rohit Choudhary sought details of surgical strikes conducted by India before the 2016 operation. The Ministry of Defence, responding through the Directorate General of Military Operations (DGMO), explicitly stated that it had no record of any surgical strikes before September 29, 2016. This official response debunked claims made by several Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, who had asserted that the Indian Army conducted up to six surgical strikes during the UPA era between 2004 and 2014.

One often-cited example by Congress is Operation Ginger, a cross-border raid in 2011 after Pakistani troops mutilated the bodies of Indian soldiers. However, this operation was a localized retaliatory action, not a full-scale surgical strike involving deep penetration, coordinated planning, and government authorization like the 2016 strike. Former DGMO Lt. Gen. Vinod Bhatia, who was in service at the time, clarified that while cross-border actions occurred, they were tactical and retaliatory, not strategic surgical strikes.

Further refuting Congress’s claims were statements from former military top brass. General V.K. Singh, who served as Chief of Army Staff during the UPA tenure, publicly denied any surgical strikes having taken place during his leadership. Similarly, General Bikram Singh, who succeeded him, stated that while minor cross-border actions might have happened, no operations of the magnitude or nature of the 2016 strike were carried out or documented.

Adding a significant dimension to the debate, former Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, who led the Indian Air Force during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, revealed in interviews that the Congress government did not authorize a military response despite the scale of the attack. He expressed disappointment that the armed forces were “ready to respond, but not allowed to”. According to him, air strike options, including targeted hits across the Line of Control, were presented to the political leadership, but no clearance was granted. This hesitation stood in stark contrast to the Modi government’s swift decision to launch airstrikes in Balakot after the Pulwama attack in 2019.

While Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar and others have claimed that surgical strikes did happen during the UPA regime but were not publicized, the lack of official documentation and contradictory statements from military leaders have cast serious doubts on such assertions. The RTI reply in 2018 effectively laid the matter to rest from a bureaucratic standpoint, stating there is no record or data to back the Congress’s claims.

In conclusion, despite political assertions, the evidence—official RTI responses, military records, and testimonies from senior officers—clearly suggests that the Congress government did not conduct six surgical strikes as claimed. The 2016 surgical strike under the Modi government was the first officially acknowledged operation, both in military planning and public policy terms. Moreover, Congress’s reluctance to act militarily post-26/11 further undermines its claim of decisive security action. Thus, the narrative of six surgical strikes during UPA rule appears more political than factual.