LUCKNOW, May 11 — Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday credited India’s armed forces for delivering a strong response to Pakistan through Operation Sindoor following the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that claimed 26 lives.
“Through Operation Sindoor, India gave a clear message of its resolve to respond decisively to terrorism,” Singh said, while virtually inaugurating the BrahMos missile manufacturing facility in Lucknow.
Singh reiterated India’s firm stance against terrorism, saying, “We have adopted a zero-tolerance policy. I thank our armed forces for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan.”
He added that India has consistently responded to cross-border terror, citing earlier retaliatory actions such as the 2016 Uri surgical strike and the 2019 Balakot air strike.
Operation Sindoor, launched on May 7, involved air raids by the Indian Air Force targeting nine locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Pakistan’s Punjab province.
The operation was conducted in direct response to the Pahalgam attack, sending what Singh called a “clear message” to the country and the world.
Singh also used the occasion to mark a milestone in India’s defence manufacturing. The newly inaugurated BrahMos missile complex, situated on 80 acres in Bhatgaon in Sarojini Nagar Tehsil, was built at a cost of ₹300 crore over 40 months. The land was provided free of cost by the Uttar Pradesh government.
“India is rapidly emerging as a defence industry hub,” Singh said, highlighting that the BrahMos project is part of the larger Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor, an initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018.
The facility will manufacture the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, a joint venture between India and Russia, with a range of 290 to 400 km and speeds up to Mach 2.8.
The missile is capable of being launched from land, sea, or air and uses a “fire-and-forget” guidance system, making it highly accurate and hard to intercept.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, along with Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and Industries Minister Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’, attended the inauguration.
Adityanath praised the transformation of the state, saying, “This is the same Uttar Pradesh that was once labelled a ‘Bimaru’ state. Today, we are revenue surplus, with the largest network of expressways, metros, and a rapidly growing aviation infrastructure, including four international airports.”
He added that work is progressing in all six nodes of the Defence Corridor—Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Aligarh, Agra, and Chitrakoot—with strong connectivity via the Purvanchal and Ganga expressways ensuring efficient logistics.
Calling the BrahMos unit a strategic step forward, Singh noted its symbolic inauguration on May 11, the day India conducted its nuclear tests at Pokhran in 1998. “It is a proud moment for every Indian. With projects like these, Kanpur will once again regain its status as the ‘Manchester of the East’,” he said.
So far, the state has seen the rollout of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth approximately ₹4,000 crore under the defence corridor, Singh added.
