Don’t dent morale of Armed Forces, says Modi

New Delhi: Hailing the valour of India’s “veer jawan (Armed Forces officers/soldiers)”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged that nothing should be done to dent the morale of the Armed Forces while asserting that India will live, work, grow, fight and win as one. A day after the Opposition parties accused the ruling BJP of trying to politicise the sacrifices of the Armed Forces,

Mr Modi said that the world is looking at India’s “collective will” and “no reason should be given to the enemy to point finger at us.”

Addressing nearly one crore BJP booth workers at 15,000 booths across the nation through video conferencing, Mr Modi gave winning tips to the party cadre and continued his tirade against the Congress and the proposed “mahagathbandhan” of the Opposition parties. The Opposition parties, which had criticised the ruling BJP of trying to politicise the sacrifices of the Armed Forces, accused the PM of having “misplaced priorities” and “betraying the national sentiments” in the wake of heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the former conducted air strikes at terror camps across the border. The strikes came days after Pakistan based Jaish-e-Muhammad carried out a suicide bombing on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir.  

Reminding the nation how the country’s development suffered after A.B. Vajpayee-led NDA lost elections in 2004, Mr Modi said while 2014-2019 was the period of getting the country out from “despair mode to hope,” the five years from 2019 will see fulfilment of the aspirations of the country. Sounding confident that the BJP-led NDA will continue at power after the coming Lok Sabha polls, Mr Modi said only a “majboot (strong)” government can continue leading the country on the development path while the “mahagatbandhan” of Opposition parties, which he called as “mahamilavat”, that would send the country to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

At the very beginning of his one and a half hour long video conferencing, Mr Modi referred to the heightened tensions between India and Pakistan saying the nation’s sentiments are at a different level. Though he did not mention the air strike or capturing of the India Air Force officer by Pakistan, Mr Modi said, “Our country’s soldiers are displaying their bravery at border and outside it as well. The country is standing with its soldiers.”

He said that India trusts the capability of its Armed Forces, therefore, it is very necessary that anything that dents their morale or allows the enemy to point a finger at us is not done. Mr Modi said that one of the goals of the “enemy trying to destabilise us and carrying out terror strikes is to stall our growth” as he asked people to do their work at a faster pace as India marches ahead on the path.

“India will live as one. India will work as one. India will grow as one. India will fight as one. India will win as one,” said the PM and added that the country is brimming with self-confidence.

Asking party’s booth workers to treat their booth as a fort, Mr Modi praised the BJP as the only organisation where the cadre is the main force said that the party gave two PMs from a humble background and said that the efforts by the Congress to stitch up a “mahamilvat” was to save its own existence. He said that most of the parties trying to firm up an alliance are those who could not see eye to eye. Mr Modi also said that the success of notebandi and GST was due to the blessings of the middle class and the small bussinessmen and listed out the initiatives by his government for both the sections of the society. The Prime Mister asserted that his government’s priority is to develop all the regions of the country and called the AIADMK-BJP as a “strong alliance.”