Terrorism Pakistan’s conscious strategy, not proxy war, says PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said terrorism is a conscious strategy of Pakistani against India and not a proxy war. He also pledged to transform Operation Sindoor, a military operation into a people’s movement.
PM Modi, who completed 11 years in office today, said: “Unable to win direct wars, Pakistan had resorted to the policy of perpetrating terror on India’s soil and continued to kill innocent people here.”
“Should we not use cannons to respond to bullets?” Modi asked the Ahmedabad audience, which responded with applause.
The PM further cited state funerals in Pakistan for terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor to make his point that the terror policy of India’s western neighbour was deliberate.
“After the night of May 6, we cannot call this terrorism a proxy war by Pakistan. We saw state funerals for terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor. We saw coffins of terrorists draped in Pakistan flags, saluted by the armed forces there. This proves that this terrorist activity is not a proxy war. This is Pakistan’s deliberate, conscious war strategy. It will get an answer befitting of this approach,” said Modi.
He also took a veiled jibe at first PM Jawaharlal Nehru for the Partition in 1947, followed by Pakistan’s first aggression that led to them occupying a part of Kashmir.
Modi said the then Home Minister Sardar Patel had wanted the Army to continue its assault till the Pakistani aggression was comprehensively defeated. “But Sardar Patel’s word was not honoured,” the PM said.
Modi said Operation Sindoor began on military power, but would sustain on people’s power. Appealing to citizens to go “swadeshi”, the PM said no one should buy anything imported from now. Regardless of the economic cost, even traders should sell anything that is imported.
Juxtaposing military and economic power as the pillars of India’s journey to becoming a developed nation by 2047, the PM sought society’s support in becoming the world’s third largest economy.
He said he wanted to take Operation Sindoor to every home. “On the night of May 6, Operation Sindoor began with military capacity, but it will move forward with people’s power. Every citizen should contribute to national development,” he said, lamenting the use of small-eyed imported Ganesha statues in homes.
Terming Indian urban centres as the economic powerhouses for the future, the PM said, “If we want to save India, Operation Sindoor cannot just be treated as the responsibility of soldiers. It has to be treated as a responsibility of all 140 crore citizens.”
India