PM Modi’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ Speech Echoes ‘Smiling Buddha’ Legacy with a Stern Message to Pakistan
On the solemn occasion of Buddha Purnima, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a powerful and historically significant speech that directly addressed Pakistan in the aftermath of India’s swift and decisive military response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
Referencing India’s historical nuclear milestones, PM Modi made a veiled yet impactful connection to “Smiling Buddha,” the codename for India’s first nuclear test conducted on May 18, 1974, under then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. This test, carried out on Buddha Purnima, was described by India as a “peaceful nuclear explosion.” Fast forward 51 years, and the Prime Minister used the same spiritual setting to send a stern warning: “If Pakistan wants to survive, it will have to destroy its terror infrastructure. There is no other way to peace.”
His address followed Operation Sindoor, a 25-minute surgical strike launched on May 7 in retaliation for a brutal terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that claimed 26 innocent lives. During this operation, India targeted and destroyed nine terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
In his 25-minute national address, PM Modi did not mince words: “India will not tolerate any nuclear blackmail. A fitting response will always be delivered – on our terms.”
He further drew historical parallels by alluding to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 1998 nuclear tests, codenamed Operation Shakti, which were also conducted on Buddha Purnima. While Indira Gandhi framed India’s first test in the context of peace, Vajpayee made no such claim. Modi adopted a similar stance but redefined the concept of peace with a sense of strength: “The path of peace also goes through power.”
Ending on a spiritual note yet with firm resolve, he stated, “Lord Buddha has shown us the path of peace,” but emphasized that peace cannot be sustained in the presence of unchecked terrorism.
The speech served as a tribute to India’s strategic legacy and a clear signal of its current doctrine—one that merges spiritual resilience with military precision.
