India marks one year of PM Narendra Modi’s third term amid escalating violence

Modi govt completes first year in third term today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today completed one year in office in his unprecedented third term, a period marked by a surge in terrorist violence and significant challenges to India’s internal security.

The first year of Modi’s third term, which began on June 9, 2024, has been defined by a series of deadly attacks, including the Reasi pilgrim attack and the devastating Pahalgam massacre, making it the deadliest year for civilians compared to the first years of his previous two terms.

The Modi government’s response, including Operation Sindoor, reflects a determined effort to counter terrorism, but the evolving tactics of highly trained terrorists have raised serious concerns about the nation’s security apparatus.

The third term began ominously, with a terror attack striking a bus carrying pilgrims in Jammu’s Reasi district just minutes before Prime Minister Modi took the oath of office on June 9, 2024. The attack claimed nine lives and injured over 40 others, setting a grim precedent for the year ahead. The cycle of violence persisted, with security forces facing a series of ambushes by small, highly trained groups of terrorists wielding armor-piercing bullets. These attackers, often operating with precision, vanished without a trace, leaving security agencies struggling to track them. The use of advanced weaponry and elusive tactics has underscored the growing sophistication of terrorist groups in the region.
The most significant provocation came on April 22, 2025, with the Pahalgam massacre in the Baisaran Valley near Pahalgam, Anantnag district, where 26 civilians, including two foreign nationals, were killed. The massacre prompted the launch of Operation Sindoor, a large-scale counterterrorism operation aimed at neutralizing terrorist networks.

According to a South Asia Terrorism Portal and media reports, 51 civilians lost their lives in terror-related incidents during the first year of Modi’s third term, a significant rise compared to 24 civilian deaths in the first year of his first term (2014-2015) and 33 in the first year of his second term (2019-2020).

This marks the highest civilian toll in the initial year of any of Modi’s terms, raising concerns about the effectiveness of current counterterrorism strategies.

Security forces also faced significant losses, with 35 personnel killed in operations during the first year of the third term, down from 51 in the first term and 46 in the second. Meanwhile, counterterrorism efforts resulted in the elimination of 84 terrorists, a decline from 109 in the first year of the first term and 155 in the second, raising questions about the effectiveness of current strategies against these elusive adversaries.

A history of surgical strikes

The Modi government has a history of responding decisively to terror attacks. Following the 2016 Uri attack, which killed 19 soldiers, India conducted surgical strikes across the Line of Control (LoC), targeting terrorist launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Similarly, after the 2019 Pulwama attack, where 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a suicide bombing, the Indian Air Force carried out airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp in Balakot, Pakistan. These operations were widely publicized as evidence of India’s zero-tolerance policy toward terrorism. In the wake of the Pahalgam massacre, Operation Sindoor has followed a similar aggressive approach, accompanied by diplomatic measures such as the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and the closure of the Attari-Wagah border post. However, these actions have sparked tensions with Pakistan, culminating in a four-day exchange of hostilities in May 2025.

The Modi administration has emphasized its commitment to national security and development, pointing to Operation Sindoor and the broader Viksit Bharat (Developed India) vision as key achievements.

At the same time, the first year of Modi’s third term has exposed deep fault lines in India’s security and social fabric. The use of armor-piercing bullets and hit-and-run tactics by terrorists signals a new phase of militancy that has challenged India’s counterterrorism framework.

While Operation Sindoor and past operations like Uri and Balakot demonstrate the government’s resolve, the decline in terrorist neutralizations and the rise in civilian casualties suggest that these measures have not fully addressed the evolving threat.

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2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

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