PM Modi gave India a defence policy, no one can challenge our borders now: Shah

In the context of the recent drone attack at Jammu airbase, Amit Shah said that the DRDO and other agencies are coming up with countermeasures.

Published on: Jul 17, 2021, 12:11:12 IST

By Shishir Gupta, New Delhi

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Union home minister Amit Shah said on Saturday no one can challenge India's borders and its sovereignty after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's crafted a separate defence policy for India. "There was no separate defence policy before Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. Either it was the foreign policy that dictated the defence policy or the foreign policy overlapped with the defence policy. Today, due to this initiative no one can challenge Indian borders and sovereignty," Amit Shah said.

Amit Shah was speaking during the Border Security Force's (BSF's) investiture ceremony.

In the context of the recent drone attack at Jammu airbase, Amit Shah said that the DRDO and other agencies are coming up with countermeasures. "We have to prepare for use of artificial intelligence and robotics by Pakistan based terror groups. This goes beyond the use of drones for attacks from across the borders," Shah added.

Also read | Another Pak drone intrudes Indian space on LoC, fired upon by soldiers

He was speaking during the Border Security Force's (BSF's) investiture ceremony. The Union home minister also felicitated personnel of BSF for their service to the nation and also delivered the Rustamji Memorial Lecture.

"I salute those who have made the supreme sacrifice. These brave hearts and warriors cannot be forgotten. India has a place of pride on the world map due to BSF and our paramilitary forces who are protecting the borders," Amit Shah said.

Two ministers of state Ajay Kumar Mishra and Nisith Pramanik, home secretary Ajay Bhalla and two intelligence chiefs were also present at the ceremony. BSF's director general Rakesh Asthana delivered the welcome address.

Amit Shah tweeted about the ceremony on Friday.

"Looking forward to felicitating our brave BSF personnel for their outstanding service to the nation, tomorrow, at the 18th Investiture Ceremony of this valiant force. Will also deliver the Rustamji Memorial Lecture," Amit Shah posted on Twitter.

Also read | Blazing sun no deterrent to BSF jawans manning barbed fence along Indo-Pak border

BSF has been observing its investiture ceremony since 2003 in memory of KF Rustamji, the force's first director general. "...the legendary and one of modern India’s most celebrated Police Officer popularly known as the Founding Father of BSF... The extraordinary vision & steadfast leadership of Shri K F Rustamji shaped BSF early in its existence. His charismatic personality later made BSF into a formidable fighting force. He has a special place in the hearts of all Seema Praharis protecting the borders of our nation," BSF said in a tweet.

BSF was raised on December 1, 1965, with 25 battalions and now the force has more than 265,000 personnel with 192 battalions including three disaster management battalions.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More