No one can occupy even an inch of our land: Rajnath Singh
Says problems of defence personnel will be resolved
Pithoragarh: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said India wants good relations with its neighbours but warned that it will give a fitting reply to any country that attempts to occupy even an inch of its land.
Singh, a senior BJP leader, was in poll-bound Uttarakhand to launch the second leg of the ‘Shaheed Samman Yatra’ from Jhaulkhet Moonakot in Pithoragarh district.
“We want good ties with our neighbours. India has never attacked any country. Neither has it ever occupied a foreign territory. Having good ties with neighbours has been India’s culture but some people don’t understand this. I don’t know whether it is their habit or temperament,” he said.
Naming Pakistan, Singh said it keeps trying to destabilise India through terrorist activities and a stern message has already been given to it.
“We have given a clear message to our neighbour on the western border that if it cross its limits, we will just not retaliate on the borders but can even cross over into its territory and do surgical and airstrikes,” he said.
“We have one more neighbour (which does not seem to understand things),” the defence minister said without naming China.
Singh said he must make it clear that if there is an attempt by any country in the world to “occupy even an inch of our land, India will give a fitting reply to it”.
Noting that everyone was aware of India’s defining victory in 1971, Singh warned India’s neighbours of not living under any delusion.
The defence minister said there was an attempt to create misapprehensions in Nepal about a road from Lipulekh Pass to Mansarovar through Dharchula that was inaugurated by him recently.
“But it has failed to affect our close cultural ties with Nepal,” he said.
Conferring Nepal Army Chief General Prabhu Ram Sharma with the honorary rank of Indian Army Chief recently is a reassertion of India’s close cultural ties with Nepal, Singh said.
Launching the second leg of the Shaheed Samman Yatra’, Singh said the state government should ensure that names of matyrs and the names of their villages should be inscribed on the Sainya Dham being built in Dehradun as a memorial tribute to them.
Soil from homes of 1,734 martyrs’ families in Uttarakhand are being collected in urns to be brought to Dehradun and used in the construction of the Sainya Dham, a vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He said that the Centre is working on a mission mode to resolve problems related to serving and retired defence personnel, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday.
“When I took over, naib subedars who retired before 2006 were deprived of the revised pension. Now, around 75,550 of them are receiving it. We have also permitted defence personnel recruited through Short Service Commission to use their ranks post retirement,” Singh said, adding that he has also ordered a revision of pension for all three wings of the armed forces.
The ex-gratia given to the families of soldiers in case of battle casualties has been revised from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 8 lakh, Singh said, mentioning that a dedicated cell has been created by his ministry to redress complaints of ex-servicemen.
He also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for implementing the ‘One Rank One Pension’, which he said had been pending for four decades.
“We have the political will required to implement things,” Singh said.
Citing an example, the defence minister said he had been to Rezang La, where 114 soldiers of the 13 Kumaon battalion died during the 1962 Indo-China war.
“They had done something charismatic and deserved a grand memorial built in their honour. A symbolic memorial that stood for years in Rezang La has now been replaced by a grand one in a fitting tribute to the soldiers for their supreme sacrifice,” he said.
Not only soldiers, the Centre is also walking the extra mile to honour the iconic figures of the country’s freedom struggle on the occasion of India’s 75th year of independence, Singh said.
He described how the birth anniversary of Rani Lakshmibai was celebrated in Jhansi on an unprecedented scale by the prime minister and himself on Friday.
The defence minister also recalled the countrywide birth anniversary celebrations of tribal freedom fighter Birsa Munda on November 15.
Press Trust of India
