NEW DELHI, June 24: Asserting that Operation Sindoor has made clear to the world India’s stringent policy against terrorism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that his government takes whatever steps are appropriate in national interest.
Weapons manufactured in India showed their impact during the conflict with Pakistan, he said, without naming the country, at an event to mark the centenary celebration of the conversation between spiritual figure and social reformer Sree Narayana Guru and Mahatma Gandhi.
“We have shown that no hideout is safe for terrorists who spill the blood of Indians,” he said, adding that his government has worked on the ideals of the revered spiritual figure who wanted a strong India that was free of any discrimination.
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Modi said his government has, in the past 11 years, worked to make India strong in social, economic and defence sectors.
He said India’s reliance on foreign countries to meet its defence needs is declining and it is becoming “aatmanirbhar” in the defence sector.
Indian military brought the enemy to its knees with made-in-India weapons in 22 minutes, he said of the precision attacks on terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir following the horrific killing of 26 civilians by terrorists in Pahalgam on April 22.
The prime minister said he was confident that made-in-India weapons will be feted across the world in future.
Modi cited his government’s welfare schemes in housing, drinking water and health insurance among other fields to assert that these have empowered the deprived and backward sections of society.
More number of IITs, IIMs and AIIMS have been opened in the last 11 years than earlier, he said, adding that the country is on the path to becoming the world’s third-biggest economy.
He said, “Narayana Guru envisioned a society free from all forms of discrimination. Today, by adopting the saturation approach, the country is working to eliminate every possibility of discrimination.”
Missions like Skill India are empowering the youth and making them self-reliant, he said, stressing that he remembers the social reformer every time he takes big decisions for the betterment of the deprived, exploited and backward sections of society.
In a swipe at previous governments, he said despite decades of independence, millions of citizens were forced to live in extremely difficult circumstances until over a decade back.
Crores of families lacked shelter and lakhs of villages had no access to clean drinking water, while even minor illnesses could not be treated due to lack of health care, he said.
Poor people and women were deprived of basic human dignity, Modi said.
The welfare schemes of his government have addressed these concerns, and now even those at the lowest rungs of society have found renewed hope. “These initiatives are not only changing their lives but also allowing them to play a vital role in nation-building,” the prime minister added.
He said the biggest beneficiaries of the new National Education Policy, which “modernises” and makes education more “inclusive”, are the underprivileged and marginalised sections of society as it promotes learning in the mother tongue.
Narayana Guru’s ideals are a great treasure for all of humanity, he said, lauding him for speaking against social ills at a time few did following centuries of enslavement of the country.
The interaction between him and Gandhi, the face of India’s freedom movement, was a historic event that gave a new direction to the stir for independence, rendering it concrete objectives, he said.
The prime minister said it serves as a powerful source of energy for social harmony and for the collective goals of a developed India.
Modi recalled his long association with Sivagiri Math, which was founded by Narayana Guru, and its saints’ affection for him.
He noted that when its members and followers were stranded in Kedarnath following a natural disaster in 2013, when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, the Math reached out to him, not the central government, for help as they considered him their own.
He said the guru espoused the mantra of “One caste, one religion, one God for mankind”, affirming that it has inspired many of his government’s global initiatives like “One World, One Health”, “One Sun, One Earth, One Grid” and “Yoga for One Earth, One Health”, which was this year’s theme for the International Yoga Day on June 21.
A government statement said the historic conversation between Narayana Guru and Mahatma Gandhi took place at Sivagiri Math on March 12, 1925, Gandhi’s visit. (PTI)
