Kargil Vijay Diwas is being marked at the Kargil War Memorial in Dras on 26 July, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has travelled to Ladakh to lead the tribute, reaching the Dras sector on Saturday for a two day observance of Operation Vijay. He is chief guest at the Army's Shaurya Sandhya on the evening of 25 July, the first of the set piece events at the memorial.

The visit runs across 25 and 26 July. Sunday, the 26th, is the anniversary itself, twenty seven years since the 1999 war ended.

In Delhi, both Houses of Parliament paid tribute on 24 July to the soldiers who fell in the Kargil War. The Rajya Sabha Chairman, CP Radhakrishnan, said the nation would observe Kargil Vijay Diwas on 26 July to honour the officers and men who defended India's sovereignty in 1999, and the House recorded its homage to those who made the supreme sacrifice.

Kargil Vijay Diwas commemoration opens at Dras

The two day programme opened on 25 July with a Yudh Sansmaran gathering at the Lamochen View Point above Dras. A documentary on Operation Vijay was screened. Veterans who fought the war shared their recollections, and the next of kin of the fallen were received and honoured. Senior Army officers, civil administration officials, veterans, Veer Naris and invited guests attended.

The Kargil War Memorial is the focal point of the two days. The events are spread across several venues, one of them a forward post, Sando Top, in the Dras sector.

Rajnath Singh at the Shaurya Sandhya

On the evening of 25 July the Army hosts the Shaurya Sandhya at the memorial, with the Defence Minister as chief guest. It is set as a tribute to the courage and sacrifice of the soldiers who fought in the Kargil heights. A musical presentation by the Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre Band and a motorcycle display by the Army's Shwet Ashwa team run alongside the two days of tributes.

The commemoration closes on 26 July with the flag in of the Shaurya Vijay Yatra, the motorcycle expedition Rajnath Singh flagged off from the National War Memorial in New Delhi on 14 July.

The riders reaching Dras

Twenty eight riders, serving and retired defence personnel with the next of kin of the fallen, have carried the expedition across close to 1,900 kilometres to arrive at Dras on the anniversary. They ride under the line "One Ride, One Nation, One Salute," halting at the Chandimandir, Rezang La and Leh war memorials on the way, and carrying an urn of soil lifted from the National War Memorial to be laid at Kargil.

The 1999 campaign the day recalls

The Kargil War began in May 1999. Intruders crossed the Line of Control and took over posts vacated for the winter on the ridges above Dras, Kargil and Batalik, positions that looked down on the Srinagar to Leh highway. The first reports came from local herders on 3 May, and patrols sent to check them found the scale of the occupation.

The plan behind it was Operation Badr. Pakistan wanted to cut the link between Kashmir and Ladakh and force India towards talks on Kashmir.

India answered with Operation Vijay. The government held its troops to the Indian side of the Line of Control, and the Army worked up near vertical slopes under fire and in thin air to clear one height after another. Many of the infiltrators had dug in above 5,000 metres, so every assault was a climb before it was a fight. The Air Force joined with Operation Safed Sagar from 26 May.

Tololing was retaken on 13 June. Tiger Hill, among the dominating peaks in the Dras sector, fell back into Indian hands on 4 July. On 14 July 1999 Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told the nation that Operation Vijay had succeeded, and by 26 July every occupied post had been recovered.

The gallantry of that summer ran deep. Four soldiers received the Param Vir Chakra, nine the Maha Vir Chakra and fifty five the Vir Chakra, among them Grenadier Yogendra Singh Yadav, Captain Vikram Batra and Captain Vijyant Thapar.

Commemorations across Ladakh

The Dras events sit within a longer season of remembrance across Ladakh. On 13 July a party of soldiers made a commemorative trek to Point 5140, the feature above Dras now called Gun Hill, honouring the Regiment of Artillery for its part in Operation Vijay. The Tiger Hill Expedition followed on 17 July, opening the peak to military tourism, with eleven trained local guides taking part and earning from the work.

The Army draws a line from Kargil to the present. At the National War Memorial in New Delhi, where the country records those killed in its defence since Independence, the fallen of Operation Sindoor were named on the Roll of Honour for the first time this year, the May 2025 strikes on cross border terror camps set alongside the wars that came before.

At Dras, the anniversary runs through 26 July, the day the Tricolour returned to the heights in 1999.