Terming Operation Sindoor a “befitting response” to the recent barbaric attack in Pahalgam, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday drew a parallel between the Indian military action and the 2011 US operation that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Without naming bin Laden explicitly, Dhankhar said: “This happened on May 2, 2011, when a global terrorist who planned, supervised, and executed the September 11 attacks inside the United States was dealt with in a similar manner by the US. Bharat has done it—and the global community knows it.”

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Speaking at the Annual Convocation of Jaipuria Institute of Management at Bharat Mandapam, the Vice-President commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Armed Forces for the precision and success of Operation Sindoor.

Calling it a “remarkable retaliation” that reflected India’s ethos of peace, he said the response was proportional to the deadly attack in Pahalgam—the gravest on civilians since the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

“From the heartland of Bihar, Prime Minister Modi sent a message to the entire global fraternity. These were not hollow words. The world now knows: what is said is done,” Dhankhar asserted.

He added that no one is demanding proof of India’s strike. “The world has seen and acknowledged. We’ve witnessed how one nation remains deeply entangled in terrorism. When the coffins of the fallen are returned, accompanied by military and political leadership, justice is rendered—Operation Sindoor is justice, delivered with dignity,” he said.

Highlighting a shift in India’s counterterrorism doctrine, Dhankhar noted: “A new benchmark has been set. Our Armed Forces targeted Jaish-e-Mohammed in Bahawalpur, deep inside Pakistan. The headquarters of Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Taiba base at Muridke were specifically struck. This was India’s deepest-ever cross-border strike—meticulously calibrated to avoid collateral damage and focused solely on eliminating terror.”

He emphasized India’s civilizational values, saying, “We are a unique nation with over 5,000 years of civilizational ethos. We must bridge, not breach, the divide between East and West.”

Dhankhar also warned against anti-national narratives and urged scrutiny of foreign institutions operating in India. “Foreign universities entering India must be carefully vetted. We cannot afford to be careless.”

On the state of education, the Vice-President cautioned against commercialization: “Education and health are not commodities. They are societal obligations. These sectors must not be avenues for profit.”

Urging the private sector to prioritize funding for education and research, he said: “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) must focus on academia. Investment in research is fundamental for national progress.”