Modi talks space on Operation Sindoor day, reveals space between India, Pakistan
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on Wednesday, just hours after India conducted its biggest anti-terror strike in Pakistan, highlighting India's aspiration for "collective progress", and exposing the gulf that lies between the two neighbours. Here, the PM's skipping the issue conveyed what a thousand words wouldn't have.
PM Modi must have been in the war room as Indian forces carried out strikes deep inside Pakistani territory, and still receiving minute-by-minute updates on the impact and global reactions. But as he addressed the space-tech meeting, he was calm and poise personified, talking science and about India's ambitions.
There was absolutely no hint of India's big military move just hours earlier and the confrontation that it had been threatened with by Pakistan.
It also showed that India was more than capable of dealing with disturbances in the backyard while aiming for the stars.
Modi said India's space journey is about "reaching higher together" rather than competing with others, even as he highlighted the several milestones India had reached on the final frontier.
He was addressing the Global Conference on Space Exploration (GLEX) 2025 via videoconferencing.
Just hours earlier, India targeted terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) in its biggest-ever, anti-terror strike -- Operation Sindoor.
Wednesday's strike was in retaliation of Pakistani and Pakistan-trained terrorists killing 26 people in Kashmir's Pahalgam on April 22. This was the biggest civilian casualty in a terror attack since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks of 2008. Other than the toll, what made the Pahalgam attack particularly barbaric was that tourists were shot from point-blank range in front of their family members.
This was the first time since the 1971 War that India targeted sites in Pakistan's Punjab province. That, and the geographical spread of Operation Sindoor and the body count of terrorists make it unique.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the anti-terror strikes were "an act of war", and his government called the strikes "reckless action" that brought the two nuclear-armed nations "closer to a major conflict".
Amid the threats of a major escalation, PM Modi appeared unflappable, even as he highlighted how India shared "a common goal to explore space for the good of humanity'. His composure showed a leader who was in control and efficient in multi-tasking.
It was an emphasis on the age-old mantra of Bharatvarsha -- "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" or the world is one family.
Living this mantra, India has launched satellites for South Asian nations. It is now preparing to gift a G20 satellite mission focused on environment and climate observation to the Global South.
India has progressed and tried to help other countries, with medicines and vaccines during the Covid epidemic or rushing aid after natural calamities. Pakistan, on the other hand, has walked the path of terrorism and featured on the FATF list as a terror-financier.
While India is surging ahead to become a top global economy, Pakistan depends on loans as its economy is in tatters.
PM Modi recounted India's space achievements, like the Chandrayaan missions, and its ambitions, like the human spaceflight mission and Bharatiya Antariksh Station. He also highlighted the Nasa-Isro collaboration.
With his statesmanship, PM Modi might have skipped any reference to the dastardly Pahalgam attacks or Operation Sindoor, but by talking space technology on such a crucial day, he exposed the gap of lightyears between India and Pakistan. The space between the two is visible to the naked eye, and doesn't need a high-powered telescope.
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