“Indian soldiers showed valour to push back Pak intruders from our territory”: PM on Kargil Vijay Diwas

Hailing the valour of the soldiers during the Kargil war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked people to talk and act keeping in mind the morale of soldiers and asserted that wars are fought not just on borders but on many fronts within the country too

In his monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio address, which coincided with the 21st anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas, the prime minister also hit out at Pakistan for the conflict and said Islamabad skilled New Delhi’s hand of friendship by stabbing it within the back.

The Kargil war was declared over on July 26, 1999, after Indian soldiers pushed back Pakistani troops, a bulk of them drawn from the neighbouring country’s Northern Light Infantry, from the captured peaks in Kargil.

?People must remember that their conduct and remarks should boost the morale and respect of soldiers, Modi said, urging everyone to try to to everything to further national unity

“People bound by a thread of unity with the mantra that the state is above everything else bolster the strength of our soldiers quite thousand times,” he said

Modi also spoke of the risks of social media. At times, without paying heed to the essence, people encourage certain things on social media “that are detrimental to the country”, he said

“There are times once we forward things out of sheer curiosity. Despite knowing that it’s wrong, we keep doing it. lately , wars are fought not just on borders, they’re fought on many fronts simultaneously within the country too.

?And every citizen has got to decide his or her role therein . We, too, should determine our roles, fully keeping in mind the soldiers fighting on the borders under the harshest of conditions,” he said

The prime minister’s comments come as Indian and Chinese armies are locked during a standoff in Ladakh

Modi recalled the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Independence Day speech after the Kargil war and said it’s relevant even today

Vajpayee, he said, had then reminded the state of Gandhi’s mantra — within the face of any dilemma, so as to make a decision what to try to to or what to not do, one must consider the poorest and therefore the most helpless person of India; one must assess whether one’s deed will end in benefitting that specific person or not

“Going beyond Gandhi-ji’s thought, Atal ji had said the Kargil war has given us another mantra. Before taking any important decision, we should always think whether our step, our endeavour is befitting to the honour of the soldier who laid down his life in those remote mountains,” the prime minister as he played out a quick clip of Vajpayee’s speech.