RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that India needed to increase its power to be able to respond to China. “In our military and economic preparations, in forging relations internationally and with our neighbours, we will need to be bigger than China,” he said. China was surprised by the vigorous Indian response to its aggression in east Ladakh this year, but Beijing’s reaction to the new situation it faces couldn’t be easily anticipated, he added during his annual Vijayadashami speech.
India’s resolve in standing up to China had led to more countries realising the need to confront the expansionist power that had been taking on several nations. “Unwavering caution, vigilance and preparedness are the only ways to respond,” he said. “This time China was surprised as India stood up resolutely... just how it will respond is not known,” Bhagwat said. “If we do this (increase our power and forge close ties with neighbour), we can stop China. Our neighbours like Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal are not just our neighbours. We have had ties with them for thousands of years and more or less they are countries with the same nature and temperament as us. We should quickly associate with them... there will be disputes when borders are shared. We should move faster to remove this issues,” he said.
In fairly explicit references to the border situation with China, the RSS chief said India’s hand of friendship to all should not be mistaken for weakness. “The erroneous impression of those who felt that (India) can be bent this way and that should have been cleared up by now. The bravery of our Army and the self-esteem reflected in the policies of our leadership and the unity of our people should be recognised by China. There is an air of self-confidence in the nation,” he said.
“A haughty China locked horns with a number of countries at a single point of time. Of course, it has been an expansionist regime and has been encroaching upon other’s territories, be it Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan and even America. However, India’s reaction to its aggression has left it rattled. Rather, China was taken aback by India’s response,” he added.
Bhagwat said there was a need to be vigilant against internal challenges as well. Political competition was a fact of democracy but there should be some wisdom in this and elections were not a war between enemies, he said, warning against bitterness within society. “This is not politics, there are forces that want to see a society at conflict with itself, these are in the world and in the country,” he added.
He said the anti-CAA agitation was used to create conflict by propagating the view that it was intended to reduce Muslim population. “These people speak of Bharat ke tukde but use certain situations to present themselves as secular and constitutionalists. They actually have no regard for the Constitution at all. They teach society the wrong things (ulti patti) and they speak the grammar of anarchy as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar said. They have worked against the Sangh, only that they are not effective today,” he added.
Light a ‘diya’ for troops: PM
At a time when India and China are facing off on the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted people to light a ‘diya’ in their homes in support of security forces guarding India’s borders. “We must also think of our brave heart soldiers who are firmly stationed on our borders in the line of duty, even during these festive times, all in the service and security of Mother India. We have to light a ‘diya’ (lamp) at home in honour of these brave sons and daughters of Mother India,” Modi said.
In his monthly radio address ‘Mann ki Baat’, Modi also made a strong pitch for unity. “Unity is power, unity is strength, unity is progress, unity is empowerment, united we will scale new heights,” he said. The PM also said India has repeatedly thwarted efforts of those who have sought to divide the country.
Won’t let anyone grab our land: Rajnath
India wants to peacefully resolve the military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh but will not allow anyone to forcibly grab even an inch of its territory, defence minister Rajnath Singh said.
The minister made the remarks after reviewing the operational military readiness along the LAC with China in the eastern sector and performing ‘shastra puja’ on the occasion of Dussehra at the Sukna-based 33 Corps of the Army. He was accompanied by Army chief General M M Naravane and Eastern Command chief Lt-General Anil Chauhan. Singh also dedicated to the nation the 19.85-km alternative alignment of National Highway-310, built by the Border Roads Organisation in Sikkim, which he said would “bolster defence preparedness” in the Nathu La sector in particular and the whole of east Sikkim in general.
Will fight on our soil as well as on foreign soil, says Doval
India will fight not only on its own territory but also on foreign soil which becomes the source of a security threat, national security advisor Ajit Doval said in remarks that struck many as significant in the context of the military standoff on the Line of Actual Control. Addressing the Parmarth Niketan ashram in Rishikesh, Doval said while India has never attacked anyone first, the new strategic thinking holds that perhaps we could have acted proactively to nip security threats. “It is not necessary that we only fight where you want to. India will take the battle to where the threat originates,” the NSA said, summing up the doctrine of what he called “New India”.
Official sources, however, emphasised that Doval was speaking more in the context of civilisational ethos and his remarks were not directed against anyone in the current context. “We never became aggressors to serve our personal interests. We will surely fight, on our soil as well as on foreign soil, but not for our personal interests. But in the interests of Parmarth spirituality,” Doval said.
