Those behind car blast in Delhi's Red Fort won't be spared: Rajnath Singh

Rajnath Singh vows justice for Red Fort blast victims; cites "Operation Sindoor" as India's modern warfare example at Delhi Defence Dialogue

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday morning that those responsible for a car blast in Delhi’s Red Fort area the evening before, when at least 13 people were killed and around two dozen injured, would be brought to justice. “They will not be spared,” he said.

  The police are investigating the incident under a terrorism-related law.

 

While talking about technology in defence — the theme of the seminar he was addressing — Singh also mentioned “the ongoing Operation Sindoor”.

 

The government has said that India’s military reprisal in May against Pakistan after a deadly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir in April had been “paused”, not ended.

 

Tuesday’s Delhi Defence Dialogue was organised by the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, the government’s foremost think tank, as part of the 60th anniversary of its founding.

 

Singh said, “True strategic autonomy would come only when our code is as indigenous as our hardware.”

 

He added that life-cycle costs of technology were “deeply woven into procurement frameworks of many advanced nations” and directed officials to begin such assessments early.

 

Singh said the country’s armed forces should be curious about best practices across the world. “The power of technology is not limited to devices or algorithms. It lies in its all-encompassing nature — the way it redefines every process, system and decision that contributes to national security.”

 

Chief of the Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, who spoke at the same event, said the country’s military leadership should adapt swiftly to evolving realities, adding that technological superiority has become a decisive factor in determining success on the battlefield.

 

“Operation Sindoor is a compelling example of modern warfare, where precision strike capabilities, network-centric operations, digitised intelligence and multidomain tactics were effectively deployed within a compressed time frame,” Chauhan said.

 

Policymakers, academics and industry representatives are discussing the use of new technologies to build defence capability at the two-day seminar.