The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) supremo, Mohan Bhagwat said that the country was not adequately prepared in the event of any hostility with China and called for 'more potent arrangements' to secure its borders.
Delivering his first Vijayadashami speech in Nagpur on Sunday evening after becoming the sixth Sarsanghchalak of the saffron organisation, he said, "We are still less prepared for any potential war, as compared to that of China, and it is necessary to make more potent arrangement to secure our borders." This was notwithstanding the fact that the country had become less complacent about defence preparedness because of the frequent wars and border infringements imposed on it after independence. The country must take immediate steps to curb infiltration across the porous borders, and weed out infiltrators already inside by adopted a policy of 'detect, delete and deport,' he said.
Bhagwat insisted that India ought to take the initiative to befriend all the South Asian nations, to provide a transparent, honest and supportive leadership at the international level. Unfortunately, India had failed to take the appropriate steps in international diplomacy, and had no clearly defined long-term goals, he alleged. "This is in spite of the fact that we have been betrayed by China once and repeatedly by Pakistan. This only exposes the absolute naïveté, immaturity, carelessness and lack of foresight of our political establishment,” he pointed out.
The motives of Pakistan and china towards India were very obvious, while even Bangladesh had been creating problems for the country. "The United States still continues to play its double game openly as well as clandestinely to protect its self interest in the Indian subcontinent. It is making earnest attempts to bring Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka under its fold," he said.
{{/usCountry}}The motives of Pakistan and china towards India were very obvious, while even Bangladesh had been creating problems for the country. "The United States still continues to play its double game openly as well as clandestinely to protect its self interest in the Indian subcontinent. It is making earnest attempts to bring Nepal, Myanmar and Sri Lanka under its fold," he said.
{{/usCountry}}The RSS leader advocated a five-pronged approach to tackle the menace of terrorism and Maoism in the country. This included the elimination of terrorist activities by the government and the administration, strengthening of the security forces through modernisation and empowerment, capacity enhancement of the intelligence agencies, extensive training and awareness programmes of the entire population, and steps to curb unemployment, exploitation and corruption, he said.
"In spite of proof that foreign mercenary agencies were working with anti-national elements to foment terror in the country, there was no evidence anywhere, except probably in speeches and declarations, of any policy having been put in place to immediately and effectively counter the menace. A well thought out plan must, therefore, be implemented immediately to check terror,” Bhagwat said.