Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday said the country’s borders were secure and the military was capable of defending them, after 20 Indian soldiers were killed this week in a frontier clash with Chinese troops.
“Nobody has entered our borders or captured our posts,” Modi said in a televised statement at the end of an all-party meeting called by his government to discuss the clash.
Modi said the country would continue to develop its border infrastructure rapidly, and would not bow down to external pressure.
In the virtual meeting attended by 20 political parties, Modi said “our forces are doing whatever is necessary to protect the country.”
The Prime Minister said “the country today has such capability that no one can even dare look towards an inch of our land.”
He said the Indian forces are capable of moving together across sectors.
While on the one hand, the army has been given a free hand to take necessary steps, the government has also conveyed its position clearly to China through diplomatic means.
He added that through the all-party meeting, he wanted to assure the families of the martyrs that the entire country stands with them.
Modi assured the leaders that “the armed forces is leaving no stone unturned to protect the nation”.
“Be it deployment, action or counter action, through land, sea or air, our forces are taking the necessary steps to protect the country. Provision has also been made for fighter planes, modern helicopters, missile defence systems and other such needs of our forces.
“Through the recently developed infrastructure, patrolling capacity at LAC has also increased,” he said, adding that through this, we are better informed about the developments at LAC and consequently are able to monitor and respond better.
He noted that through better infrastructure, supply of material and essentials to the troops in the difficult terrain has become comparatively easier.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also briefed the meeting at the onset and stressed the nation would never forget the sacrifice of the martyrs.
The leaders of the political parties hailed the bravery displayed by the armed forces in Ladakh.
They reposed faith in the leadership of the prime minister in this hour of crisis and expressed commitment to stand united with the government. They also shared their thoughts and ideas on dealing with the situation.
Source said most of the northeast parties also firmly stood with the prime minister.
Meanwhile, the Congress alleged that valuable time had been lost and asked what the government plans to do next. “We in the Congress Party believe that valuable time was lost between May 5 and June 6, the date on which the Corps Commanders meeting took place. Even after the June 6 meeting, efforts should have been made to talk directly, at the political and diplomatic levels, to the leadership of China,” Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi said in a statement.