Lok Sabha Elections: During the Vijay Sankalp Rally in Uttarakhand’s Rishikesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday hailed the Uri and Balakot surgical strikes, stating that in the 10 years that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governed India, terrorists have been killed in their own homes. The PM’s ‘Mazboot Modi Sarkar’ remark came amid allegations that sleeper cells of the Indian intelligence agency, Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), handled by PM Modi’s office, orchestrated targeted killings in Pakistan.
While hailing the surgical strikes conducted by India in Uri and Balakot, PM Modi said that ‘under the Mazboot Modi sarkar, atankwaadiyon ko ghar mein ghus ke mara jata hai’.
The 2019 Balakot airstrike was a bombing raid conducted by Indian warplanes on February 26, 2019, in Balakot, Pakistan, against an alleged terrorist training camp. The surgical strike was conducted right before the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
The Uri surgical strike occurred when the Indian Army crossed the Line of Control (LOC) into Azad Kashmir, on September 29, 2016, to attack targets up to a kilometre within the territory held by Pakistan. The raid occurred 10 days after four militants had attacked an Indian army outpost at Uri on September 18, 2016, in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, and killed 19 soldiers.
“The Indian tricolour has become a guarantee of security even in the war zone,” PM Modi affirmed.
He also said that whenever the country had a weak government, enemies have taken advantage.
Lashing out at the Congress, PM Modi said, “During the Congress regime, the soldiers did not even have bulletproof jackets. There was no proper arrangement to protect them from enemy bullets.”
“It was the BJP that gave bulletproof jackets made in India to its soldiers, saving their lives. Today, everything from modern rifles to fighter planes and aircraft carriers is being made in the country itself,” PM Modi added.
According to a report published by the Guardian on April 5, quoting Indian and Pakistani intelligence operatives, PM Modi’s office ordered the assassination of individuals in neighbouring Pakistan.
As per the report, the Research & Analysis Wing, an agency directly controlled by PM Modi’s office, had undertaken the strategy to “eliminate terrorists living on foreign soil”.
The Guardian report concentrated on killings in Pakistan, which it claims have crossed 20 since 2020.
Soon after the report surfaced, India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had also said, “If any terrorist will try to disturb India from any neighbouring country or try to conduct any terror activities in India, we will always give a befitting reply to them.”
In an interview with News18, Rajnath Singh said, “If that terrorist will run towards Pakistan (from India), Pakistan mein ghus ke marenge (will kill them by entering into Pakistan)”.
Uttarakhand has five Lok Sabha seats and the state will go to the polls in a single phase on April 19.
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Published: 11 Apr 2024, 03:51 PM IST