Punit Rajani

🇮🇳 Journalist | @aajtak @indiatoday | Ex - @cnnnews18 | @republic | Tweets are purely my personal views | Retweets ≠ Endorsements

[Narendra Modi @narendramodi]

Mutual trust is the most important strategic asset today.

But, sadly, today, the world does not suffer from a shortage of resources…it suffers from a shortage of trust.

And the future of our partnerships depends on re-building this trust.

[Aravind @aravind]

The number of people without electricity by country.
Look what happened after 2016. Someone started fixing India for real. Many things at a time. Still some way to go. The lag of last 60 is that bad.

[Ministry of Defence, Government of India @SpokespersonMoD]

The wait is over.

The full cinematic tribute to #OperationSindoor is here - honouring courage, precision, and the unwavering spirit of our Defence Forces.

Watch the complete film and relive the moment that reflects India’s resolve to safeguard its sovereignty, unity, and integrity. 🇮🇳🫡

Full movie streaming now!

@rajnathsingh
@DefenceMinIndia
@SethSanjayMP
@HQ_IDS_India
@DefProdnIndia
@adgpi
@indiannavy
@IAF_MCC
@PIB_India

[ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY @adgpi]

#PahalgamTerrorAttack

Justice is Served.

Jai Hind!

[Punit Rajani @punitrajani]

Look who’s eradicated today.

[ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY @adgpi]

For acts against #India, the response is assured.

Justice will be served. Always.

#SindoorAnniversary
#JusticeEndures
#NationFirst

[Punit Rajani @punitrajani]

@SwiggyCares @jagograhakjago The issue has been addressed. Thank you!

[Punit Rajani @punitrajani]

@SwiggyCares @jagograhakjago DMed.

[Mikku 🐼 @effucktivehumor]

There was.

[Punit Rajani @punitrajani]

@ShivAroor So.... 6 Hours.

https://t.co/HcgSqEQQ53

[ANI @ANI]

Kanpur, UP: Lamborghini Car Accident Case | Court grants bail to accused Shivam Mishra, on a personal bond of Rs 20,000.

[Dr. Brahma Chellaney @Chellaney]

I have publicly urged the Indian government to clear former Army chief M.M. Naravane’s manuscript so that his memoir can finally be released. That appeal stands. Yet I remain genuinely puzzled by the political controversy surrounding a particular passage in the unreleased book — one that recounts Chinese tanks advancing toward Indian positions at Rechin La on the Kailash Heights in August 2020.

According to Naravane’s own account, the Chinese advance prompted him to seek urgent guidance from the defense minister and the national security adviser. The political leadership, he writes, authorized him to respond as he judged appropriate — conveying the direction, “Jo uchit samjho, woh karo” (“Do what you think is fit”). Despite this delegation of authority granting him carte blanche, Naravane presents the episode as an abdication of responsibility by the government, arguing that the political leadership should have specified the precise response he was to undertake.

That claim deserves closer scrutiny, not least because it sits uneasily with Naravane’s own record during the border crisis with China.

The serial Chinese encroachments across multiple points in eastern Ladakh during April-May 2020 occurred on Naravane’s watch as Army chief. These were not minor incursions but coordinated intrusions that fundamentally altered the military status quo along the Line of Actual Control. Yet no senior Army officer was publicly held accountable for what was a grave lapse, one that has left India facing a structurally adverse and enduring security situation in eastern Ladakh.

Equally consequential was Naravane’s public messaging once the encroachments came to light. From early May 2020 onward, he repeatedly downplayed the scope and intent of Chinese actions. On May 14, 2020, he attributed troop clashes around several encroached areas to “aggressive behavior by both sides,” creating a false equivalence between the aggressor and Indian forces.

He further described the confrontations and clashes in Ladakh and Sikkim as arising from “differing perceptions” of the alignment of the LAC, effectively portraying deliberate territorial advances as cartographic misunderstandings. At another point, he asserted that these incidents were “neither co-related nor do they have any connection with other global or local activities,” implicitly severing them from the broader pattern of Chinese coercive behavior unfolding at the time. (Such statements of Naravane have been quoted by me in this essay published in mid-2020: https://t.co/wLHvkzk2YW.)

Such statements mattered. They did not merely reflect diplomatic caution; they publicly diluted the clarity of India’s position at a moment of acute military crisis. The clashes in Ladakh and Sikkim were, in fact, clearly related — part of a coordinated Chinese push to alter facts on the ground under cover of ambiguity, consistent with Beijing’s wider approach to territorial revisionism under Xi Jinping.

The costs of this messaging became starkly apparent in mid-June. On June 13, 2020, Naravane publicly declared that “the entire situation along our borders with China is under control.” https://t.co/IE54IYgNlT

Two days later, Indian troops were ambushed and killed by PLA forces in the Galwan Valley, triggering bloody clashes there and shattering the public narrative of stability, besides exposing the extent to which the crisis had been mischaracterized.

It is against this backdrop that Naravane’s account of the Rechin La episode must be assessed. Having repeatedly minimized Chinese aggression and eschewed accountability within the Army’s senior ranks, he now suggests that the political leadership erred by granting him operational discretion rather than prescribing a specific military response to a fast-moving tactical situation.

This is an odd contention. Civilian control of the military does not entail political micro-management of battlefield decisions. On the contrary, professional armed forces are entrusted with operational judgment precisely so that political leaders are not required to dictate tactical responses in real time. Delegation of authority in moments of crisis is not a failure of leadership; it is a recognition of the military’s professional domain.

Naravane’s complaint thus raises a more fundamental question than the one he appears to intend. Does an Army chief require explicit political instructions on how to counter localized enemy aggression on the ground? Or is the exercise of professional military judgment — within clearly articulated political objectives — the very essence of command?

That question, rather than the selective controversy surrounding a memoir, is what deserves serious public debate.

[Punit Rajani @punitrajani]

@ajeetbharti ॐ शांति।🙏

[Punit Rajani @punitrajani]

@theskindoctor13 This is precisely what I had thought. After every previous conspiracy was thwarted, this appeared to be a hastily executed job carried out in undue haste. It is almost like they were ordered to make something happen as soon as possible by their higher ups.

[Punit Rajani @punitrajani]

Really appreciate the security arrangements at JLN Stadium and around for the Travis concert. (18 Oct‘25)

The traffic was also handled exceptionally well. Kudos to the RAF, Delhi Police, and Delhi Traffic Police for their commendable efforts.

@RAFCRPF @DelhiPolice @dtptraffic

[Punit Rajani @punitrajani]

@ShivAroor Your facial expression at the end of the package is cherry on top 😂

[Punit Rajani @punitrajani]

There is a clear malicious intent to create unrest. This will incite public disorder, violence, and civil strife. What action has TN Police taken anyway? One arrest and a warning against sharing the video? Hats off. What a joke, a slap on every Hindu of this country. Shame!

[Punit Rajani @punitrajani]

Effigy of Prabhu Shri Ram was burnt in Tamil Nadu. I don’t care what DMK is doing because I don’t expect anything else from the people who want to eradicate Sanatan Dharma. I care about what the Home Ministry, the Govt of India is doing. This is blasphemy of the highest order.

[Punit Rajani @punitrajani]

@elonmusk Spit my coffee reading this

[sushant sareen @sushantsareen]

Pakistanis have been match fixers, religious bigots taking their religion to the field and trying to convert players, made racist and sexist remarks, have mistreated their own compatriots who were non-Muslim, have been the biggest cheats (their umpires are cheaters and players have been involved in ball tampering). Now they have suddenly discovered Cricket is a Gentleman's game

[Surya Kumar Yadav @surya_14kumar]

I have decided to donate my match fees from this tournament to support our Armed Forces and the families of the victims who suffered from the Pahalgam terror attack. You always remain in my thoughts 🙏🏽

Jai Hind 🇮🇳