Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrates Diwali with soldiers near LoC in J&K's Rajouri

SRINAGAR: Keeping up with his tradition of celebrating the auspicious occasion of Diwali with soldiers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday celebrated Diwali with soldiers near Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district. PM Modi distributed sweets to the soldiers to mark the auspicious occasion.

"Celebrated Diwali with the brave soldiers of the Indian Army in Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir. It is always a matter of great joy to be able to interact with these courageous personnel," PM Modi tweeted.

Celebrated Diwali with the brave soldiers of the Indian Army in Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir.

It is always a matter of great joy to be able to interact with these courageous personnel. pic.twitter.com/e9th01wwiy — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 27, 2019

The prime minister arrived in Rajouri at around 12 pm on Sunday and this is his first visit to the Kashmir valley after the Centre decided to abrogate Article 370, which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, on August 5.

PM Modi's visit to the LoC coincided with Infantry Day celebrations, which is observed to mark the landing of first Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 to push back Pakistan-supported intruders.

This is for the sixth time that PM Modi has visited Jammu and Kashmir to celebrate Diwali with the troops in the border state since 2014. PM Modi had started the practice of interacting with troops serving in tough areas on Diwali soon after taking over as the prime minister in 2014 when he had spent his Diwali at Siachen in Ladakh region with the jawans, besides visiting the flood victims in Srinagar.

It may be recalled that in 2018, the prime minister had celebrated Diwali with ITBP personnel stationed on the India-China border. During his address in 2018, PM Modi had said, "His passion for doing duty on snowy mountains in far-flung areas makes the nation's strength stronger."