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'Operation Sindoor a brilliantly chosen name': Tharoor recounts 'kill me too' cry of Pahalgam survivors
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor praised India's counter-terrorism response against Pakistan during his Washington visit and said that 'Operation Sindoor' was a 'brilliantly chosen name.' read more
Tharoor, who is leading the multi-party delegation, made it clear that India's actions were based on the right to self-defence. PTI/File Photo
Praising India's counter-terrorism action against Pakistan, Shashi Tharoor described 'Operation Sindoor' as a 'brilliantly chosen name', noting that the colour of sindoor is not very different from the colour of blood.
Speaking at the National Press Club in the US, Tharoor explained, 'Sindoor is a vermilion mark worn by married Hindu women on their foreheads. It's a widely followed tradition, although many Americans may not be familiar with it.
'Some non-Hindus wear it too, usually for decorative purposes. But strictly speaking, sindoor is applied during the marriage ceremony and worn every day thereafter by married women.'
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He continued, '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. When one wife screamed, 'Kill me too', she was told, 'No, you go back and tell them what we've done.''
While addressing the Indian community in Washington, DC, Tharoor recalled this chilling moment from the recent Pahalgam terror attack, where a woman, after witnessing her husband's killing, pleaded to be shot too, only to be told to return and recount the horror.
Tharoor used this incident to underscore the strong and unconditional support India has received from US lawmakers in the aftermath of the attack.
'There's been a very wide, impressive cross-section of legislators who met and spoke with us. Our purpose in coming was actually very simple: to lay out what we've been through in India over the past few weeks following the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam, and to seek understanding and solidarity with us on these measures,' the Congress MP said.
'The relationship with India matters deeply to all these people. The strategic partnership is real—we saw it in practice. There's always something happening. In fact, when our meeting at the Senate was ending, they had to rush off for a vote. But they made time for us and engaged in a very positive and constructive manner.'
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