President Murmu flies Rafale with Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh, refuting Pakistan’s Operation Sindoor lies

President Droupadi Murmu made history on Wednesday as she took a 30-minute sortie in a Rafale fighter jet at Haryana’s Ambala Air Force base. Standing alongside her was Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh, India’s first and only woman Rafale pilot — a powerful image that instantly silenced Pakistan’s claims of her alleged capture during Operation Sindoor.

Shivangi Singh, hailing from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, was commissioned into the Indian Air Force in 2017 as part of the second batch of women fighter pilots. She was later inducted into the Rafale squadron in 2020, becoming the first woman to fly the state-of-the-art fighter aircraft. On Wednesday, she personally briefed the President on the aircraft’s capabilities and operations before accompanying her on the sortie.

Pakistan’s propaganda machinery had earlier circulated fake reports during Operation Sindoor, alleging that a Rafale jet had been shot down and Shivangi Singh was taken prisoner near Sialkot. The Indian government and the Air Force had firmly rejected those claims, calling them “baseless and fabricated.” Fact-check units had also confirmed that a viral video suggesting a visit by IAF Chief AP Singh to her home was unrelated and dated months before the operation.

The Defence Ministry reiterated that all pilots had returned safely after India’s precision strikes on terror hubs in Pakistan and PoK. Air Marshal Bharti, Director General of Air Operations, had stated that the Air Force achieved its mission objectives, asserting, “Losses are a part of combat, but the results speak for themselves.”