Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on May 24, 2025visits an area affected by the recent shelling from Pakistan in J&K’s Poonch.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The Opposition parties under the banner of INDIA bloc are gearing up to pen a joint appeal to the government demanding a special session of Parliament to discuss the Pahalgam terror attack and the subsequent developments.

Several Opposition leaders have individually made this demand, including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). 

Independent MP Kapil Sibal was first to urge the government to convene a special session of Parliament to show the “nation’s unity in this hour of grief” on April 25, 2025, three days after the attack. This was followed by the RJD and the Congress also writing to the government on the issue. 

As per sources, the Opposition parties are making coordinated efforts to finalise a draft of the letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue. 

“The government should convene a special session to discuss the April 22, 2025 Pahalgam attack and the subsequent developments both nationally and internationally. This is a fairly straightforward request, which the government should not have any trouble in accepting,” a senior Opposition leader said. 

Unconditional support

The Opposition parties maintain that they have unconditionally backed the government since the attack. “We have presented a united front both nationally and internationally. Both the Opposition and government MPs are jointly representing India as part of the multi-party delegations abroad to realign the focus back on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism,” another leader added.   

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and a delegation of Trinamool parliamentarians also recently visited Poonch and Rajouri, which was hit by cross-border shelling following India’s successful Operation Sindoor. 

On Tuesday (May 27, 2025), Trinamool Congress MPs attended their parliamentary party meeting at the Central Hall of the old Parliament building and passed a resolution, urging the Prime Minister to hold a special session of Parliament to inform the people about the steps taken to combat terrorism in the wake of the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor. This meeting follows Trinamool president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s statement urging the government to convene a special session of Parliament, arguing that Indian citizens had the “foremost right to be informed about the recent conflict and the evolving developments before anyone else”.