Key Points
* Samajwadi Party leader claims Pulwama attack was an internal political conspiracy
* Says BJP exploited the incident ahead of the 2019 elections after failing on promises to their voters
* Remarks align with Pakistan’s long-held stance on false-flag operations in IIOJK
* Raises questions over India’s narrative on RDX and post-attack accountability
ISLAMABAD: A senior leader of India’s Samajwadi Party has questioned the Indian government’s narrative on the 2019 Pulwama attack, calling it a political conspiracy by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Speaking to an Indian news agency, ANI, in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party leader Sanatan Pandey said the Pulwama suicide bombing, which killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel on February 14, 2019, was not a foreign-sponsored act but a calculated move (false flag) by the BJP to regain political ground.
Pandey said the BJP came to power in 2014 on sweeping promises, including creating two crore jobs annually, doubling farmers’ incomes, controlling inflation, and bringing back looted wealth. He maintained that none of these commitments were fulfilled during the party’s first five-year term. According to him, the Pulwama incident was exploited to create a climate of fear and nationalism, thereby concealing these failures and influencing the 2019 election outcome.
The Samajwadi Party leader also questioned the Indian government’s inability to clearly explain the source of the explosives used in the attack. Even years later, New Delhi has failed to provide transparent answers. He highlighted that the BJP was avoiding meaningful debate on poverty, unemployment, and economic distress in parliament, opting instead to mobilise public sentiment through communal polarisation and security-related rhetoric.
Pandey further criticised India’s mainstream media, alleging that national television channels routinely amplify narratives that target specific communities and stoke internal divisions, particularly in the run-up to elections such as those in West Bengal.
The remarks are significant as they echo Pakistan’s consistent position that many so-called terror incidents in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir are staged by Indian authorities to discredit the Kashmiri freedom movement and malign Pakistan internationally.
Islamabad has repeatedly rejected Indian allegations linking Pakistan to the Pulwama attack, calling them baseless and politically motivated, as it did in the case of the Pahalgam false flag in April 2025. The BJP’s recent actions, referred to as a “conspiracy” by Pandey, were aimed at the May 2025 aggression by India. In response, Pakistan not only defended itself effectively but also retaliated forcefully, resulting in significant losses for the Indian forces.
Following the 2019 incident, India claimed to have carried out air strikes on a purported Jaish-e-Mohammad facility in Balakot on February 26, 2019. Pakistan had firmly rejected those claims and subsequently demonstrated its conventional restraint and defensive capability by downing the Indian aircraft the following day, and capturing alive one Indian Air Force pilot, Abhi Nandan. That was a development that exposed serious flaws in New Delhi’s narrative and military assertions.
Pandey’s statement adds to growing voices within India that are challenging the official account of Pulwama and the manner in which the incident was used to justify aggressive posturing and misinformation against Pakistan.
