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Opinion Inside Track: 1PM’s Crisis Meet

On Thursday, May 8, the Prime Minister summoned a meeting of all GOI Secretaries at noon. The atmosphere was tense as Modi warned that India must be prepared for a "long haul" as the other side was "foolish".

PM Modi chairs high-level meeting at his residence, an hour before DGMO talks between India and Pakistan.

May 18, 2025 11:48 AM IST First published on: May 18, 2025 at 07:05 AM IST

On Thursday, May 8, the Prime Minister summoned a meeting of all GOI Secretaries at noon. The atmosphere was tense as Modi warned that India must be prepared for a “long haul” as the other side was “foolish”. Modi also underlined the need for bureaucrats and Ambassadors to effectively and clearly communicate India’s moral high ground and strategic imperatives to the world. The PM also warned against attempts to sabotage through cyber attacks on infrastructure and software in control rooms. When a Secretary mentioned that river water to Pakistan had been intercepted as part of the Indus Waters Treaty abeyance, the PM noted wryly that it would have been more to the point if the bureaucracy had conceptualised constructing canals upstream to store river water much earlier. The PM’s firmness, combined with his shrewd pragmatism, despite upsetting hardcore BJP supporters and warmongers, was in evidence throughout the short-lived Operation Sindoor.

Chinese Checkers

The first night of the India-Pakistan engagement was marked by India’s spectacular feat in pinpointedly targeting nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and PoK, including Bahawalpur, Muridke, and Muzaffarabad, all epicentres of terror infrastructure. Almost, as if on cue, in international media and social media, there was a buzz in the arms world that Indian jets had been downed by Chinese J-10C aircraft. Later, when asked about these, an IAF spokesperson said that while losses were part of any combat, the military had achieved all its selected objectives and all IAF pilots were back home. Shares of the Chinese aircraft manufacturer, AVIC Chengdu Aircraft, shot up by over 20% in a day following the unverified claims.

Over the next three days, India significantly scaled up its offences, hitting a dozen Pakistani air bases, from Chaklala to Bholari, Rahim Yar Khan to Jacobabad, jamming and piercing Chinese-supplied air defence systems. The damage inflicted on Pakistan air bases was exposed in satellite imagery. A large fireball emanating from an air force installation near Rawalpindi could be seen for miles. Realisation dawned that the Chinese tactical superiority was much exaggerated. India’s partly indigenous, integrated air defence system clearly had the upper hand, warding off the stream of imported drones and missiles. One can only speculate as to the actual tipping point for the dogged General Asim Munir to climb down and urgently seek a ceasefire. With the unfolding warfare no longer showcasing China’s vaunted cutting-edge superiority in military hardware, China perhaps encouraged Pakistan to retreat. Certainly, Pakistan would not have asked for a ceasefire and US intervention without China’s prior approval. Meanwhile, Chinese defence stocks fell from their first day high and some Indian ones moved up — the markets course-corrected as facts came in.

Rajnath Gets Due

Throughout Operation Sindoor, Rajnath Singh was accorded his due as Defence Minister. He was present at all the crisis meetings with the National Security Advisor and chiefs of the armed forces. In the absence of Prime Minister Modi, Singh chaired the all-party meeting to discuss the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. In fact, days after the terror attack, he said that people across the country were united, irrespective of their religion, a theme that was underlined by the Prime Minister in his address to the nation. His was also the first political voice from the Government after Op Sindoor when he said that the Government had followed Hanuman’s principle and targeted only terrorists. After the ceasefire, he called out Pakistan’s nuclear bluff by saying its weapons should be under the control of the global watchdog IAEA.

Backdoor Privatisation

BJP politician K J Alphons’s new book, The Winning Formula, brings out the bureaucrat-turned-politician’s unconventional methods in resolving problems. One delightful example is how Alphons, as Secretary of Higher Education in Kerala, managed to sneakily bring in private professional colleges in the socialist-minded state where both the LDF and UDF governments were against private enterprise in higher education. Alphons found an unexpected ally in his minister, the pragmatic P J Joseph, after he pointed out that students from Kerala were at a great disadvantage and had to either study in other states or travel abroad to get degrees in engineering, medicine and nursing. Alphons sneakily cleared No Objection Certificates to 33 applicants for private education institutions without bringing the file before the cabinet. Three months later, when the CPI(M) Chief Minister E K Nayanar discovered the fait accompli, he wanted Alphons suspended. Joseph threatened to resign. Alphons, meanwhile, approached the chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education for approval, despite the objections of the state government. Thirteen colleges started in Kerala in 2001. Ten years later, there were 150 private colleges.