China understands that India is no more weak: Rajnath Singh

Lucknow: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said the country's borders were "completely safe" and China has also started to understand that "India is no more weak".

Singh said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi India has become a powerful country and its prestige at the international level has also grown.

Addressing a gathering at a programme organised by Bhartiya Lodhi Mahasabha here, he referred to the recent Dokalam stand-off and said, "India's borders are completely safe and China has started to understand that India is no more weak. Its strength has grown."

The Union minister said that the dispute related to China has been resolved.

"Since the formation of the government at the Centre under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has become a powerful country in the world. India's prestige at the international level has grown," he said.

Singh also hit out at Pakistan for "sending terrorists" to India.

"It (Pakistan) tries to break India, but our security personnel every day kill five to ten terrorists," he added.

Further, he said participating in programmes organised by caste groups does not amount to indulging in vote-bank politics, and added: "We do not do politics only for votes. We do politics to build the society and the country."

Singh, who represents Lucknow in the Lok Sabha, said while assuming office, PM Modi had made it clear that his government will be dedicated to the poor people. He referred to schemes such as Jandhan Yojana and Ujjwala Yojana launched by the Centre to stress his point.

"Allegations of corruption have been levelled on the Congress government and its ministers, but we can confidently say that in the last three-and-half years, no allegation of corruption has been levelled against us," he said.

He also lauded the BJP government for making cleanliness a mass movement and said the prime minister also aims at ending poverty in the country by 2022.

"We will accomplish this within the time frame. Modi ji is the first prime minister who has ensured an easy access of the poor people to the banks," he added.

New Delhi: An ambitious high speed train project in south India has been delayed after Chinese railways, that completed a feasibility study a year ago, did not respond, railway officials have said, suggesting that the "lack of response" may be due to the Dokalam standoff.

An internal brief of the Mobility Directorate on the status of nine high-speed projects of the railways shows that the Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore corridor, a 492 km stretch, lies in limbo because the Chinese railways has failed to respond to the ministry's communiques.

"The Chinese company submitted the final report in November 2016 and after that the Chinese team has suggested for a face to face interaction. No date has been fixed from their side," said the note prepared by the Mobility Directorate.

On the reason for the delay, the brief states –"lack of response" from Chinese railways. The brief also states that the feasibility study by the China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co Ltd (CREEC) was submitted to the Railway Board in November 2016 and after that the Chinese company had sought meetings with officials of the Board.

However, officials say that the Board has been unable to get in touch with officials of CREEC despite repeated communications sent to them via mails in the last six months.

"We have even tried to get in touch with them through their Embassy here, but we are yet to hear from them," said an official.

The ministry officials said that it was the standoff between the two countries in Bhutan's Dokalam area between June 16 and August 28 this year that seems to have derailed the project.

"The study began in 2014 and they submitted the report in 2016. The entire cost was borne by them. In fact they have shown so much interest in collaborating with us for other projects as well, so we think that it was the standoff that must have raised doubts," said a senior rail official.

An email to the Chinese Embassy on the issue did not elicit any response.

Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Dokalam since June 16 after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed area by the Chinese Army. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Dokalam.