As the 2025 Monsoon Session begins, Parliament is no longer just a legislative arena—it is a mirror to a nation in doubt. Outside, Delhi’s skies pour freely, but inside the House, answers remain tightly held. The government may have listed 17 bills for debate, yet it is the questions that remain unasked—or unanswered—that are pulling the national conscience taut. Three months have passed since Operation Sindoor was launched in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. The nation mourned the deaths of 26 citizens, mostly tourists, but the government’s silence since then has been deafening. While official statements have called the operation “strategic and swift,” the Prime Minister himself has not spoken a word in Parliament. Now, with reports emerging of foreign drones, retaliatory air raids, and a sudden ceasefire, the country is left to wonder—was this truly a mission dictated by national will, or one quietly shaped by foreign intervention?
The question only grows louder in the shadow of Donald Trump’s repeated boasts. The former U.S. President, now leading the Republican charge for a comeback, has publicly claimed he brokered peace between India and Pakistan in less than 48 hours using “trade leverage.” These statements, often exaggerated but rarely denied, cast a long shadow over India’s posture of strategic autonomy. If Trump’s claims carry even a kernel of truth, where does that leave India’s longstanding principle of bilateralism under the Shimla Agreement? Is this what diplomacy has come to—a backstage bargain brokered over tariffs? Or worse, has India’s military calculus been externally recalibrated without parliamentary oversight?
The INDIA bloc, still fragile but increasingly vocal, has raised these questions with renewed urgency. Congress MPs have invoked Rule 267, demanding a full debate on Operation Sindoor and the geopolitical circumstances surrounding it. But with Prime Minister Modi set to travel abroad midway through the session—visiting the UK and Maldives—many expect another deflection. In a democracy, does silence in the House amount to contempt for the voter’s right to know?
If external interference is one concern, internal erosion of democratic processes is another. The Special Intensive Revision exercise in Bihar, originally meant to clean electoral rolls, has now set off alarms. Over 41 lakh voters marked “suspicious.” Nearly 11,000 flagged as “missing.” Entire districts allege wrongful deletions, many affecting marginalised communities. What began as a bureaucratic exercise now stands accused of being a soft trigger for disenfranchisement—a quiet cleansing of inconvenient voters before state elections. The opposition calls it a “backdoor NRC,” a coded assault on the electoral soul of India. But will that charge pierce through a news cycle dominated by defence, drones, and diplomacy?
Meanwhile, the INDIA alliance itself faces its own reckoning. AAP is out, Mamata skipped the pre-session meet, and CPI has openly distanced itself from Rahul Gandhi’s recent remarks. Can an alliance with visible cracks still command the authority to demand accountability? Or is this session, like many before it, destined to be consumed by walkouts, noise, and lost opportunity?
In the end, what’s at stake isn’t just the truth about a single operation, or the accuracy of a former U.S. President’s claims. It is about whether Parliament can still function as the conscience-keeper of the Republic. Can it hold the executive to account when the matter involves national security and electoral integrity? Or has the balance of power shifted so far that even facts now need clearance before they’re allowed inside the House? As the monsoon clouds gather above, the real storm may be the one still waiting to break inside the walls of democracy.
Riya Goyal is a trainee journalist at Cult Current. The views expressed in the article are
her ownand do not necessarily reflect the official stance of Cult Current.