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Parrikar showcased India’s surgical strike capability to the world: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Manohar Parrikar as defence minister showed the world that India too could “attack terrorists in their own home”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi credited Goa’s late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar for showing the world that India too could target terrorists in their own homes and said that his successor Pramod Sawant and his young team would take his work forward.
Addressing a public meeting in the Goa capital of Panaji, Modi criticised the Congress for trying to defame a leader of Parrikar’s stature.
“We have to accept the truth that Manohar is not among us, but his work, his values will be among us. Through his spirit of dedication, through in his hard work, Parrikar has shown how a person can work for public interest in all honesty,” the Prime Minister said adding that he too felt Parrikar’s absence during this visit.
Referring to the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army in 2016 in the aftermath of the Uri terror attacks, Modi said Parrikar who was then the defence minister, showed the world that India too could “attack terrorists in their own home”.
“The message now resonates clearly before every country across the world. I am proud that I got the opportunity to work with a colleague like Manoharji and got the opportunity to give a new direction to give to India’s defence doctrine,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister also spoke of how “naamdar” (referring to Congress president Rahul Gandhi) went allegedly to enquire about Parrikar’s health, but when he stepped out, he uttered unimaginable lies.
He was referring to Rahul Gandhi’s speech in Kerala later that day where he claimed that Parrikar had told him that he was kept out of the loop of the Rafale deal.
“When Manohar was battling for his life, he was spending every second of his life for the betterment of Goa. In such a situation, he had to come out to clarify the canards spread by these liars,” Modi said.
He also likened the Congress to pickpockets and gave the analogy of pickpockets who join the crowds shouting ‘chor, chor’ to avoid being found out.
“What they do is, if they picked a pocket in a bus or a fair, the thief who picks the pocket, also runs with the crowd saying ‘thief thief’. The entire crowd is then confused about who really is the thief,” Modi said.
