Operation Sindoor Proves India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Is More Than a Slogan, Says Former DGMO Lt Gen Ghai

A year after India’s military struck targets deep inside Pakistan, the man who once ran the country’s military operations said what many in defence circles had been saying quietly: the weapons worked, and they were made in India.

Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, former Director General of Military Operations, addressed a press conference in Jaipur on Thursday marking the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor. He called the operation a “defining moment” in India’s strategic posture and, more specifically, proof that the Atmanirbhar Bharat defence manufacturing push had crossed the line from policy ambition to battlefield reality. “Operation Sindoor proved that Atmanirbhar is not just a slogan, it is indeed a force multiplier,” Ghai said.

His argument rested on numbers and systems. Over 65 per cent of India’s defence equipment is now manufactured domestically, he noted. The operation deployed a significant share of that BrahMos missiles, the Akash air defence system, advanced surveillance platforms, and electronic warfare suites, all developed and produced in India.

“The BrahMos, Akash, advanced surveillance and targeting systems along with homegrown ammunition and spares, all played a decisive role,” he said. Indigenous equipment, he added, gave India more than self-reliance it gave flexibility. Weapon systems could be tailored to operational requirements, supply chains could be sustained in-country, and the force could respond “with speed and confidence.”

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Operation Sindoor was launched following the April 22, 2025 attack in Pahalgam, which killed 26 people 25 Indian nationals and one Nepalese citizen in one of the deadliest civilian attacks the Kashmir Valley had seen in years. India’s military struck targets inside Pakistani territory. The exchange was brief but intense. Pakistan subsequently requested a cessation of hostilities.