It was a historic and symbolic moment in the history of India when President Droupadi Murmu flew a Rafale fighter jet on Wednesday at the Ambala Air Force base. Her landing was not just a mere ceremony, but it had a serious message to Pakistan, particularly when she stood next to Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh, the pilot that Pakistan had falsely alleged to have olded in earlier this year.
In May, after an Indian operation codenamed Sindoor, in response to a Lashkar-e-Taiba terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir that resulted in the death of 26 people, the state media and social media of Pakistan falsely reported that Indian Air Force Rafale jets were shot down and that one of the India pilot, Sqn Ldr Shivangi Singh, had been taken hostage. The Indian government and military promptly refuted these assertions stating that they were mere propaganda.
The IAF subsequently affirmed that the Indian aircraft did not go missing, in fact, Pakistan had received a heavy blow of six aircraft were destroyed, four of which were U.S. manufactured F-16s and two Chinese made JF-17s. According to the false story, Indian authorities claimed, was the effort of Islamabad to hide its military failures.
On October 29, Varanasi born Squadron Leader Shivangi Singh, who is among the first female pilots to fly the Rafale, herself briefed the president Murmu and showed him around the jet at the Ambala base. Group Captain Amit Gehani was the pilot of the Rafale in which the President took her flight under supervision of Group Captain.
At the same time the Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh, commanded a formation sortie in another Rafale. The very potent visual of the Supreme Commander of India flying in the most sophisticated fighter jet in the country, and the pilot who had been the subject of false propaganda by the Pakistani side, was a symbolic demonstration of air supremacy and strength of the Indians.
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