Congress Claims Six Surgical Strikes In UPA Era; BJP Hits Back With RTI Reply

Congress and BJP clash over surgical strikes, with Congress claiming six operations under UPA, while BJP disputes the facts.

A heated political debate has unfolded after Congress MP Shashi Tharoor's comments on India's surgical strikes sparked controversy. Tharoor, leading a multi-party delegation to several countries, stated that India crossed the Line of Control for the first time in 2016 to conduct surgical strikes against terrorist bases. The Congress party quickly distanced itself from Tharoor's remarks and claimed that six such military operations were carried out during the UPA government.

The grand old party shared a video on X and said, “No Noise. No PR. Only Decisive Actions. 6 Surgical Strikes were carried out under Congress Govt.”

No Noise. No PR. Only Decisive Actions 

6 Surgical Strikes Were Carried Out Under Congress Govt. pic.twitter.com/IBZxrA0pSc

— Congress (@INCIndia) May 29, 2025

Congress also shared a picture noting the dates of its six surgical strikes.

आपकी जानकारी के लिए  pic.twitter.com/YePrHkAWGK

— Congress (@INCIndia) May 29, 2025

BJP's Amit Malviya shared an RTI statement on X, stating that the given section does not hold any data pertaining to surgical strikes carried out before September 29, 2016.  

RTI Reply | April 9, 2018

“This section (Integrated HQ of MoD ARMY DGMO) does NOT hold any data pertaining to SURGICAL STRIKES carried out BEFORE 29 Sept 2016.”

Let that sink in. No records. No data. No proof of any “surgical strikes” before 2016. pic.twitter.com/kvX0uM182S

— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) May 29, 2025

Meanwhile, Tharoor, who is leading an all-party delegation in a global outreach programme, in Panama said, "When, for the first time, India breached the Line of Control between India and Pakistan to conduct a surgical strike on a terror base, a launch pad - the Uri strike in September 2015. That was already something we had not done before. Even during the Kargil War, we had not crossed the Line of Control."