NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has redefined and redesigned India's attitude against terrorism.
India today is a powerful country respected by strong nations and India has never encroached on a single inch of land of another country's territory nor attacked any country, he said at the valedictory session of National Conference on 'Delivering Democracy: Reviewing Two Decades of Narendra Modi as Head of Government' organised by Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini at India International Centre.
About India's fight against terrorism, Rajnath Singh said: "Prime Minister Modi has redesigned and redefined India's attitude against terrorism... while previous governments took a soft stand towards terror acts. We never discuss cricket matches with Pakistan. Action will be taken either inside or across the border as per the requirements. We did surgical strikes and airstrikes. Prime Minister Modi delivered what he promised. There is a major paradigm shift in internal and border security because of his decision making powers."
Referring to the Pokhran nuclear test during the Atal Bihar Vajpayee government, Singh said: "In 1960, the Jana Sangh had passed a resolution for conducting a nuclear test and Atal ji did it. Yesterday, India successfully tested Agni-V, it is not to scare anyone. Only a powerful country is respected by strong nations and India has never encroached among a single inch of land in anyone's territory nor attacked any country. We believe in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family)," he said.
About Prime Minister's 'Aatmnirbhar Bharat', he said: "Earlier India was the biggest importer of defence equipment in the world. Today, we are among the top 25 exporters of defence equipment in the world. In the next few years, we will soon achieve the target of Rs 3,500 crore defence export. It all happened because of PM Narendra Modi."
Citing the abrogation of Article 370, he said, "People used to ask when it will be abrogated or will it remain only in our manifesto? Once I discussed the issue with him (Modi), I realised that the government is moving in the right direction. Many people claimed that it would be impossible to do and Kashmir would burn, however, the Modi government proved everyone wrong."
Rajnath Singh claimed that Prime Minister Modi is the only leader after Mahatma Gandhi with a deep understanding of Indian society and its psychology as both have spiritual backgrounds.
Calling the crisis of credibility in politics and politicians, the Defence Minister said that he accepted this crisis of credibility as a challenge and overcame it.
"You might have felt that in independent India, the biggest challenge before politics and politicians has been a crisis of credibility. Due to the difference between words and deeds of politicians, people's trust in them lessened gradually but Modi showed that there is no difference between his words and deeds. And established his credibility among people," he said.
"He is a case study of effective leadership and governance. The life and work done by Prime Minister Modi should be taught as a case study in management schools," he said. Singh requested people to do unbiased analysis of Prime Minister Modi's work and said, "His only agenda is nation building and lok Kalyan (public welfare). No one can question the intention and integrity of Prime Minister Modi. He is 24 carat gold and in his long political career as head of government for 20 years he has not faced a single allegation of corruption."
"Changing the old perception that politicians should not stand with industrialists, Prime Minister Modi took bold initiatives to back them as industry leaders in nation building. He organised 'Vibrant Gujarat' when other Chief Ministers including me had not imagined about it. In the last seven and a half years, India's ranking has improved in ease of doing business," he said. (IANS)
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