Senior Congress leader Raashi Alvi has raised suspicion over Operation Sindoor following the appointment of retired Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra as the first CEO of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust. Speaking to the media on Thursday (3rd September), Alvi suggested that retired Air Marshal Mishra was appointed as the CEO of the Trust as a favour for hiding the ‘truth’ of Operation Sindoor.
“The current BJP government is appointing Supreme Court judges as Governors or members of the Rajya Sabha; this raises doubts in people’s minds. And now, you have appointed a retired Air Chief as the CEO of the Ram Mandir Trust. What does he have to do with this? … I wonder if there is some hidden truth behind ‘Operation Sindoor’ that led to his appointment as CEO here…” Alvi said.
#WATCH | Delhi: On Air Marshal Jeetendra Mishra (Retd) appointed as the first CEO of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Congress leader Rashid Alvi says, "The current BJP government is appointing Supreme Court judges as Governors or members of the Rajya Sabha; this raises… pic.twitter.com/Kji215yJ1X
— ANI (@ANI) September 2, 2026
This is not the first time that the Congress Party has cast suspicions on Operation Sindoor, which was the Indian Armed Forces’ military action against terror launchpads located in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. While the entire world was left in awe of India’s military might after Operation Sindoor, the Congress questioned the capability of the Indian Armed Forces to carry out such a measured and precise military operation.
Instead of standing in solidarity with the Armed Forces, Congress leaders peddled Pakistan’s fake narrative just to score some political points over the Modi government. The party and its leaders claimed that Indian forces surrendered during the operation. The Congress also falsely claimed that the Indian government surrendered and agreed to a ceasefire with Pakistan under US pressure, despite the Indian government clarifying on record that the US played no role in the ceasefire.
Alvi criticised the Modi government for appointing former judges and military personnel to constitutional and statutory positions. “This policy of the BJP government and our Prime Minister will ruin the country. To this day, the identities of those who committed the robbery at the Ram Mandir have not been revealed, nor have all the culprits been arrested…In my understanding, such appointments of retired military personnel set a wrong precedent…” Alvi said.
Interestingly, the former Congress MP was talking as if the practice of appointing retired judges and military personnel to constitutional and statutory positions had started under the Modi government. The practice existed long before the Modi government came to power in 2014.
A year before, in 2013, the Congress government appointed Lt Gen (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma as the governor of Arunachal Pradesh. Lt Gen (Retd) Sharma succeeded Gen (Retd) Joginder Jaswant Singh, who was also appointed as the governor of the state by the Congress government in 2008.
Lt Gen (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma was appointed to the gubernatorial post in Arunachal Pradesh after he completed his tenure as the chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), to which he was appointed in 2008.
There are numerous examples from the Congress era where retired judges and military personnel were given appointments at the centre or in the states by the Congress government.
