India has never attacked, nor coveted any territory, says PM

NEW DELHI: India has neither coveted any territory nor attacked any country, but its men have made supreme sacrifices for the national cause and freedom of others,

NEW DELHI: India has neither coveted any territory nor attacked any country, but its men have made supreme sacrifices for the national cause and freedom of others, PM Narendra Modi said on Sunday.

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His remarks came in the backdrop of escalating India-Pakistan tension after the attack at the Uri army base in Jammu and Kashmir, in which 18 soldiers were killed, and India’s subsequent surgical strikes across the Line of Control.

“India has not attacked anyone. It is neither hungry for land. But in the two World Wars, 1.5 lakh Indian soldiers laid down their lives,” Modi said, at the inauguration of the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, a complex dedicated to overseas Indians.

The Uri attack was the tipping point as Pakistan, accused of harbouring militants to do its military’s bidding, ratcheted up the Kashmir issue at a time civilian unrest engulfed the frontier state over the killing of a militant leader in July.

Modi stressed the need to connect with the 27-million diaspora and hailed former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee who started the idea of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. He called it appropriate to inaugurate the centre at south Delhi’s Chanakyapuri on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

“Gandhiji left India, but the call of the nation brought him back. Nothing can be a bigger inspiration than this.”