He has to say that. Our stated goal is to stay within Pak nuke threshold; if the stated nuke threshold is any grab of Pakistani territory then there is no use of any war plans from our side. So what else can he say?
He doesn't have to say anything in the first place. Kargil War was fought under the nuclear overhang. We even came close to war at least two times during Op Parakram. So nukes did not deter us even from a large scale war at the time. The deescalation happened from outside India.
And the comment was extremely important within our policy circles, it wasn't just a political comment for the domestic audience. What India announced is a limited war is a very real possibility. As you have already pointed out, Pakistan's nuclear threshold is very high, which is true. The fact that Pakistan has not deployed tactical nukes operationally speaks for itself.
The problem with limited war is it can only impart punishment and not extract compliance. It is for this reason that a limited war may not happen. So this has nothing to do with nukes.
That is what we claim. We have to respond to Pakistan's strategy just like they respond to ours. It is all optics to put pressure on Pakistan.
The situation is such that neither Pakistan nor India are doing anything that will lead to peace.
Our negotiating tactics have completely changed. This happened under UPA. Congress decided that talks will go nowhere and only puts Pakistan in an advantage, so there's no point just sitting down and discussing about this.
We enjoy status quo, so we will maintain such unless some major changes happen. All we have done is throw the ball in Pakistan's court. It's up to them now.
An event takes place in Bombay/Mumbai ( whatever names its going by today ) and Indians are going bonkers, raise the DEFCON, alert your Strategic force and mobilize it and send a very stubble message.
You are obviously not aware, but we will commit to a first strike if you mobilise.
According to India's nuclear doctrine, we follow NFU for countries that possess WMDs. But even the threat of a nuclear strike is considered as a nuclear strike.
Apart from that, Pakistan has been under the habit of threatening nuclear war on India every now and then, so their threats are empty.