When National Security Advisor Ajit Doval stood before the graduating class at IIT Madras and asked a blunt question — “Can anyone show a single image of damage on Indian soil?” — it wasn’t just a rhetorical flourish. It was a direct challenge to the orchestrated chorus of sceptics, naysayers, and geopolitical rivals desperately trying to water down India’s most decisive military response in decades. His question came on the heels of a four-day conflict that has not only rewritten the rules of engagement in the subcontinent but also firmly repositioned India from a reactive “soft state” to a self-reliant military power with offensive capabilities, strategic vision, and most importantly, political will. In the early hours of May 7, while most of the world slept, Indian airpower crisscrossed into Pakistani territory in a pre-emptive, precision-strike operation code-named Sindoor. Within just 23 minutes, India hit nine terror training camps and command centres across Pakistan, neutralizing high-value targets with unerring accuracy. Simultaneously, Indian air-defense systems intercepted and neutralized attempted retaliatory strikes by Pakistan, including attacks targeting Indian airbases and army installations. The sheer scale, coordination, and effectiveness of the mission stunned not just Islamabad, but its allies and weapon suppliers. Pakistani jets never breached Indian airspace. Several incoming projectiles — sourced from China, Turkey, and others — either malfunctioned mid-air or landed unexploded in Indian fields and deserts. This wasn’t just a military failure; it was a full-spectrum exposure of the faulty Chinese and Turkish hardware propping up Pakistan’s offensive delusions. Predictably, the usual suspects sprang into action. Chinese state media, disgruntled Western think tanks, and a handful of partisan Indian voices began spinning a counter-narrative: that India too had suffered heavy losses. Curiously, not one of them could produce a single satellite image, field photograph, or verified casualty report to support the claim. Their real target was India’s fifth-generation Rafale jets acquired from France — jets that the previous Congress government had mischievously delayed. Hence, Doval’s sharp poser at IIT wasn’t just a defence of India’s battlefield success; it was a damning indictment of their collective deceit.
Worse still, Pakistan circulated doctored videos — some generated using artificial intelligence, others borrowed from Chinese state propaganda — in a desperate attempt to paint a picture of Indian vulnerability. But unlike in the past, India responded with facts, footage, radar logs, and debris from intercepted Pakistani and Chinese-origin weapons — some still bearing serial numbers. That evidence didn’t just vindicate India’s claims. It exposed a triad of state-backed disinformation from Islamabad, Beijing, and elements within the Western media-industrial complex. This was not merely a skirmish. It was a strategic declaration. For decades, India absorbed terror strikes with bureaucratic restraint and diplomatic platitudes. But since 2014, and more assertively post-Uri and Balakot, the Modi government has evolved India’s military doctrine into one that prioritizes swift retaliation and escalation dominance. Doval — the architect of India’s modern national security framework — has been central to this shift. India today doesn’t just defend; it deters. It doesn’t just retaliate; it pre-empts. This is what Athmanirbhar Bharat in defence looks like — indigenous missile systems, real-time satellite imaging, AI-integrated targeting, and the operational gumption to act. Yet, some within India — primarily in the Opposition — seem more eager to believe hostile foreign reports than their own Army or Air Force briefings. They parrot the Chinese line, question Indian capability, and attack the Prime Minister’s leadership — even in moments of national triumph. But the people aren’t buying it. Trust in the forces remains rock solid, and there is growing public recognition that under Narendra Modi, India is finally behaving like the regional superpower it is. Ajit Doval’s challenge is more than a war-room rebuttal. It’s a defining line in India’s evolution. Those who still see India as a soft, indecisive giant are living in the past. Operation Sindoor, and the leadership that made it possible, signals a new era — where India speaks softly, but strikes hard when provoked. The age of silence in the face of terror is over. The age of Athmanirbhar Bharat — decisive, disruptive, and militarily credible — has arrived.
