Indian Army’s bravery is unparalleled, says PM Modi
LADAKH/ NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accompanied by Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General MM Naravane, paid an unannounced visit to Leh today days after Galwan Valley clash with China. He also visited soldier who were injured in the clash in Ladakh.
Prime Minister Modi, during a surprise visit to a forward post in Ladakh today days after a deadly border clash with China, told troops that the nation’s enemies had seen their “fire and fury”. Describing the soldiers as “the braves of the soil”, the PM said the “weak can never accomplish peace, the brave do”.
Without naming China, the Prime Minister said: “The age of expansionism is over, this is the age of development. History is witness that expansionist forces have either lost or were forced to turn back.” Those who laid down their lives for the country belonged to all parts of India and epitomised its ethos of bravery, he said, rallying the troops.
“Every single Indian across the world, especially in India, has the belief that you all can deliver and keep the nation strong and safe. Your courage is higher than the heights where you are stationed. Your arms are as strong as the mountains that surround you. Your confidence, determination and belief are as atal (immovable) as the peaks here.”
The PM’s visit was seen as a morale-booster for the army and a powerful statement against Chinese aggression at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) since early May, which escalated to a deadly brawl on June 15 in which 20 soldiers were killed and over 70 injured. Army sources said 45 Chinese soldiers were killed or injured.
The bravery that you and your compatriots showed, a message has gone to the world about India’s strength, says Prime Minister Modi to solidiers in Nimmoo, Ladakh.
Those who are weak can never initiate peace, bravery is a pre-requisite for peace, he says. Chants of “Bharat Mata ki jai” and “Vande Mataram” broke out when he arrived at Nimu, said to be around 100 km from the site of the clash in the Galwan river valley.
He was flown by chopper to Nimu, 11,000 feet up in the Himalayas and on the banks of the river Indus. PM Modi interacted with soldiers from the Army, Air Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police. Later, he addressed the troops.
While addressing the soldiers at Nimu in Leh he said that the tales of bravery displayed by the 14 Corps will echo in every home. “The bravery and dedication you show is not lesser than anyone else in the world. At the position where you are, no one in the world can compete with that. Your courage is higher than the heights where you are posted today,” the Prime Minister said.
PM also underscored that India would not stop building roads and bridges in the border area, which is believed to have been the cause of China’s aggression.Before ending his visit, the Prime Minister also visited a hospital where several soldiers wounded in the clash are recovering.
Meanwhile, Reacting to PM Modi’s speech to the jawans at Ladakh, Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that contrary to PM’s claims on Chinese intrusion, ‘Ladakhis say China took our land’.
Gandhi shared a video of several people talking about China’s repeated incursions into the ‘Finger area in Ladakh’. The Wayanad MP has repeatedly attacked the PM claiming that he must ‘break his silence on the Galwan clashes’, inspite PM Modi’s several public addresses on the issue.
(With Agency Inputs ).
