NEW DELHI, Feb 5:
The Modi Government wants friendly relations with all countries but it will not compromise with India’s border security and the people’s safety, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday.
Shah also said that the Government has successfully tackled the three internal security hotspots — ‘Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeast and the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas’ — in its 10 years of rule.
“Our external and internal policy is clear. We want friendly relations with other countries. But there will be no compromise on the country’s border security and the security of its people,” he said while delivering a lecture on ‘Security Beyond Tomorrow: Forging India’s Resilient Future’.
He also launched ‘ORF Foreign Policy Survey’ here.
Shah said other countries have respected this policy of the Government.
He said the Government decided to strengthen the external and internal security of the country and in the last 10 years it has successfully done many things.
“There have been comprehensive changes in internal security ever since the Modi Government came to power that include policy changes in last 10 years for ensuring internal security. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, India has built a strong internal security network,” he said.
The Home Minister said India’s foreign and security policies devised by PM Modi not only meet the present-day demands but also brace the nation to face future challenges with courage.
“Today world leaders eagerly wait for PM Modi’s opinion on global issues before addressing them,” he said.
The Home Minister said due to their “appeasement” policy, the previous governments have created many internal security problems.
The three internal security hotspots of the country, ‘J&K, Northeast and LWE affected areas’, had come up due to the wrong policies of the previous government, he said.
“These three hotspots were successfully brought under control by the Modi Government and the areas now part of India’s development journey,” he said.
Shah said terrorism and insurgency have left many dead and injured, and the Government has taken action not only on terrorism but its ecosystem too.
Giving an example, the Home Minister said there were over 2,600 organised stone pelting incidents in J&K prior to the Modi Government came to power and over 110 people lost their lives and more than 6,000 people were injured due to these incidents.
“Now there is not a single incident of stone pelting in J&K. There is zero stone pelting,” he said.
Shah said that after the implementation of the newly enacted three criminal justice laws, these will be the most modern laws in the world.
He said there was a narrative that after revocation of Article 370 or Article 35A, there would be unrest in J&K. “But when these two clauses of the Constitution were abrogated, not a single bullet was fired,” he said.
The Home Minister said there was no cinema hall operating in j&K and no Moharram procession was taken out but now the cinema halls have opened after 30 years and Moharram procession is also allowed.
Besides, 30,000 people were elected to local bodies in the Union territory through democratic process, he said.
In the Northeast, he said, 9,000 militants have surrendered in the last few years, the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) has been removed from 70 per cent areas while Rs 14 lakh crore was invested in the Northeast for improving its infrastructure.
Shah said for the first time, all eight Northeastern states were now connected with air and rail networks.
Referring to the LWE areas, he said violence has come down by 70 per cent and development process has reached to the ground level.
“We have worked with ‘whole of the Government’ approach. We have signed peace accords with many militant groups in the Northeast. But those who are not responding to the peace offer, zero tolerance policy is adopted against them,” he said.
The Home Minister said the Indian democracy was badly hit by three issues — corruption, dynastic politics and appeasement, and added that all these three “sour points” were removed by the Government.
He said this year, elections will be held in around 40 countries across the world where 3.3 billion people will exercise their franchise, including the people of India.
“We will celebrate the festival of democracy and again the Modi Government will come to the power for the third consecutive term,” he said.
Shah said Prime Minister Modi is the most popular head of the state in the world which the world knows and has accepted it.
He said India has become the fifth largest economy from the 11th in the last 10 years and it will become the 3rd largest in the next five years.
Shah said the Government is developing 6,000 border villages under the vibrant village programme and the prime objective is to ensure that development reach the remotest village of the country and that there is no migration from border areas.
He also said that all land borders of the country have been secured and through the land border points, trade worth USD 4 billion has been carried out. (PTI)
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