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No one can take an inch at China border: Shah
Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday praised the Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP), and said that he is never worried about the India-China border as he knows that ITBP personnel are guarding the borders there and “because of this, no one can occupy even an inch of India’s land”
Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday praised the Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP), and said that he is never worried about the India-China border as he knows that ITBP personnel are guarding the borders there and “because of this, no one can occupy even an inch of India’s land”.
Shah spoke at the inauguration of the newly constructed buildings of ITBP in Karnataka’s Devanahalli and the laid the foundation stone for a Central Detective Training Institute (CDTI) of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).
“ITBP has been doing service to the nation by keeping the toughest borders on the Himalayas safe in inhospitable conditions,” said Shah. “No one can occupy even an inch of India’s land as they know that ITBP personnel are guarding the frontiers,” he added, calling ITBP personnel “Himveers” (snow bravehearts).
The home minister’s remarks came weeks after the December 9 clash along the Line of Actual Control between the Indian and Chinese forces at the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh. The recent clash near Yangtse along the LAC in the sensitive sector took place after the over a 30-month border standoff between the two sides in eastern Ladakh.
Separately, the senior strategist for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also said that the party will not be in alliance with any party for the 2023 Karnataka assembly elections. He was addressing the BJP’s booth presidents and booth-level agents’ convention at the Palace Ground in Bengaluru.
He told party workers that the BJP will win a two-thirds majority in a direct contest with the JD(S). He accused the HD Deve Gowda-led party of spreading rumours of a likely tie-up with the BJP. “There are clearly two sides and it is a straight fight this time. Journalists say there is a triangular fight. I said no, it is a straight fight because voting for the JD(S) means voting for the Congress. So, is it a straight fight or not?” Shah asked.
He also accused the Congress of pandering to forces inimical to national interests. “There are clearly two sides. On one side, there is an organisation of patriots in the form of BJP and on the other side, the ‘tukde-tukde gang’ has come together under the leadership of the Congress. It is for the people of Karnataka to decide now whether they are with the patriots or those who support people who want to divide this country,” he added.
Highlighting the BJP’s victory in Gujarat, Shah told party workers assembled from across Karnataka: “If you want to form a government, don’t form an incomplete one, form a government with a full two-thirds majority.”
Shah told the BJP’s booth presidents and booth-level agents to reach out to people with the development work done by the state government and over the Hindutva agenda. “The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are constructing a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Along with Ayodhya, Kashi Vishwanath, Somnath, Kedarnath and Badrinath are being developed, but on the other hand, there are people who project Tipu Sultan as a hero. People of Karnataka have to choose between the two,” Shah said.
Reacting to Shah’s remarks, former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said: “JD(S) is the people’s ATM. ATM means Any Time Manushyatva (Humanity) to us. To you, it means Any Time Mosa (cheating). You’ve forced the nation onto the path of destruction through your lies.”
Karnataka, which is scheduled to go to the polls in the summer of 2023, is important to the BJP because it is the only southern state where the party is in power and has substantial presence in the state. But despite previous efforts, the party has been unable to establish a foothold in the Old Mysuru region, populated by the influential Vokkaliga community that forms a key vote bank for the JD(S). The region has traditionally swung between the Congress and the JD(S).
