New Delhi: Congress MP K.C. Venugopal has moved a privilege notice against defence minister Rajnath Singh, accusing him of misleading Lok Sabha over casualties during Operation Sindoor. In a note shared on X on Tuesday (June 30), Venugopal writes six militarymen died during Operation Sindoor, and Singh nevertheless said there were no casualties.“They died in service of our nation, while defending it against our enemies, and the so-called nationalist government simply lied about their martyrdom,” Venugopal writes.On July 28, 2025, defence minister Rajnath Singh spoke in parliament during a debate on the Pahalgam terrorist attack and Operation Sindoor. “If you ask whether our brave soldiers suffered any losses in this operation, the answer is no,” he said.Singh also criticised the Opposition for asking about India’s losses (rather than Pakistan’s losses) and that he could not provide the Opposition with suitable answers because it was not asking the “right questions”.Another controversial statement in that speech was, “Mr Speaker, when the objective is great, we should not allow our attention to be diverted by comparatively smaller issues, because focusing only on smaller issues can distract from larger matters such as national security and the morale and honour of our soldiers…”In August 2025, the Modi government announced gallantry awards for the six personnel, but did not specify the operation they died in. However, on June 26, 2026, the government of India inscribed their names on plaques commemorating fallen soldiers at the National War Memorial in the capital. This revealed that the six men died during Operation Sindoor.In the meantime, the Ministry of Defence has clarified that Singh was only talking about reports of pilot casualties during Operation Sindoor, even though he did not mention pilots in the relevant parts of the speech. The Wire has done a detailed fact-check of the claims made by the government related to Operation Sindoor casualties. It explains how the gallantry awards were not linked to Operation Sindoor at the time of their announcement last year, but only now, after the controversy erupted over the War Memorial acknowledgements.Narrating a part of this sequence of events – the statement of the defence minister and the commemmorative inscriptions in particular – Venugopal writes in his post, “It is a well-established norm that if a minister misleads the House or [withholds] information, it constitutes a breach of privilege, amounting to contempt of the House.”Accompanying Venugopal’s post is a copy of his formal complaint to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, sent on June 30, in his capacity as MP and Chairperson of the Lok Sabha Public Accounts Committee. The note recountes the names of the fallen soldiers and says, “I request that privilege proceedings may be initiated against the Minister of Defence in the matter.The six personnel are Subedar Major Pawan Kumar, Rifleman Sunil Kumar (Vir Chakra), Lance Naik Dinesh Kumar, Agniveer Mood Muralinaik, Havildar Sunil Kumar Singh, and Indian Air Force Sergeant Surendra Kumar (Vayu Sena Medal), who were later honoured at the National War Memorial for laying down their lives during Operation Sindoor.Venugupal also shares a transcript of Singh’s statement in Parliament.There has been outrage since then over the six personnel being denied public recognition for their sacrifice for over a year and their families not being told the truth through Parliament. The public, too, was misled about the human cost of the operation, which followed a deadly strike by terrorists in the Basiran Valley of Kashmir near Pahalgam.Under parliamentary procedures, once an MP submits a notice, the Speaker decides whether it merits consideration. If considered, it can be discussed in the Lok Sabha or referred to the Committee on Privileges, which is asked to submit a report. Ultimately, the House decides whether action is to be taken, based on the report.