Prithviraj Chavan Sparks Row With ‘India Defeated on Op Sindoor Day 1’ Remark

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said that Indian aircraft were shot down on the first day of Operation Sindoor and India was completely defeated.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan's statement on Operation Sindoor, which was India's military response to the Pahalgam terror attack claiming 26 lives, sparked a major political controversy. He, however, refused to apologise over his controversial statement, saying he had not said anything wrong.

"I haven't said anything wrong and there is no question to apologise. Our Constitution has given me a right to question," Chavan said while refusing to apologise over his controversial claims that India was defeated on the first day of Operation Sindoor.

Chavan said that Indian aircraft were shot down on the first day of Operation Sindoor and India was completely defeated.

"On the first day (of Operation Sindoor), we were completely defeated. In the half-hour aerial engagement that took place on May 7, we were fully defeated, whether people accept it or not. Indian aircraft were shot down. The Air Force was completely grounded, and not a single aircraft flew," Chavan said.
 

"If any aircraft had taken off from Gwalior, Bathinda, or Sirsa, there was a high probability of being shot down by Pakistan, which is why the Air Force was fully grounded," he further added.

The former Maharashtra Chief Minister also questioned the need to maintain an army of 12 lakh soldiers, saying there was not even a one-kilometre movement of the military during Operation Sindoor.

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/will-not-apologise-congress-leader-prithviraj-chavan-on-operation-sindoor-statement-2837134-2025-12-17