SITAPUR/BHARATPUR: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said India’s character has never been to attack or occupy even an inch land of another nation but it has taken a resolve to not spare anyone if it is harmed.
Singh, who addressed rallies in Sitapur, Bharatpur-Sonhat and Patan Assembly seats in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, also attacked the Congress over corruption and for being a “zero” when it came to carrying out development.
Singh said the menace of Naxalism will be eliminated in the next three to four years and also promised to prohibit forced religious conversion if the Bharatiya Janata Party is voted to power in Chhattisgarh, where the second phase of polls will be held on November 17.
India has emerged as a powerful nation under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with its economy, which is now at fifth place in the world, poised to become the third largest in the next three years behind the United States of America and China, the Defence Minister said at a gathering in Bharatpur.
“India is not a weak nation anymore. Rather, it is a powerful one. Five to six years ago, terrorists intruded into our borders and killed our brave soldiers in the night in a cowardly attack. The PM called a meeting and in 10 minutes a decision was taken,” he said.
He said India carried out a surgical strike to avenge the attack, adding that the nation can, if needed, cross the border to eliminate terror camps.
“It is Bharat’s character that it has never encroached an inch of any other country’s land nor has it attacked any other country.
But it is our resolve that ‘hum kisi ko chhedenge nahin, par humein koi chhedega, to hum chhodenge nahin’ (we will never provoke any country, but, if provoked, we will not spare anyone),” Singh asserted.
Hitting out at the Congress government in the state under Bhupesh Baghel for scams and corruption, he said it had not done any developmental work and if a report card of its performance is sought from the public, then the result would be a “zero”.