New India will give befitting reply to Pakistan if it tries to destabilize peace: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, “Pakistan makes all efforts to destabilize peace in India but we have sent a clear message to them that we will hit back. This is a new and powerful India."

Pic Courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday (November 20) said that ‘new and powerful’ India will give a befitting reply to Pakistan if it makes efforts to destabilize peace. 

Addressing the 'Shaheed Samman Yatra' from Jhaulkhet Moonakot in poll-bound Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district, Singh as quoted by ANI said, “Pakistan makes all efforts to destabilize peace in India but we have sent a clear message to them that we will hit back. This is a new and powerful India."

Pakistan makes all efforts to destabilize peace in India but we have sent a clear message to them that we will hit back. This is a new and powerful India: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Pithoragarh. pic.twitter.com/25cjh9uW7m — ANI (@ANI) November 20, 2021

The senior BJP leader said India wants to establish “good ties” with its neighbours but some countries don’t understand this. "We want good ties with our neighbours. India has never attacked any country. Neither has it ever occupied a foreign territory. Having good ties with neighbours has been India's culture but some people don't understand this. I don't know whether it is their habit or temperament," he added. 

The Union minister said, "We have given a clear message to our neighbour on the western border that if it crosses its limits, we will just not retaliate on the borders but can even cross over into its territory and do surgical and airstrikes."

Without naming China he said, "We have one more neighbour (which does not seem to understand things)."

The Defence Minister informed that the Centre has increased the ex-gratia amount provided in case of the battle casualties to Rs 8 lakh. 

Further, Singh said that the Uttarakhand government should ensure that names of matyrs and the names of their villages should be inscribed on the Sainya Dham being built in Dehradun as a memorial tribute to them. Soil from homes of 1,734 martyrs' families in Uttarakhand are being collected in urns to be brought to Dehradun and used in building Sainya Dham. 

Singh launched the second leg of Shaheed Samman Yatra today, while BJP Chief JP Nadda on November 15 had inaugurated the Yatra in Chamoli to pay homage to the sacrifices made by soldiers from Uttarakhand. 

(With agency inputs)