Modi: Defence interests compromised by Cong
ROHTANG/SISSU/SOLANG
VALLEY: Attacking the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the country’s defence interests were compromised for a long time as their governments kept “playing around with files” and delayed procurement of fighter jets, arms, ammunition and other strategic equipment.
Addressing public meetings in Himachal Pradesh after inaugurating strategically-important Atal Tunnel, the Prime Minister also took a swipe at the opposition’s protest against farm and labour laws, saying those parties also had similar ideas but lacked the courage to implement these measures because they focussed on elections while his government looked at the country’s and farmers’ welfare.
“Nothing is more important for us than the defence of the country. But for a long time, the country has also witnessed an era when the defence interests of the country were compromised. The Air Force of the country kept demanding a modern fighter plane, while they kept opening and closing files after files, and kept playing around with those files,” he said at Rohtang after inaugurating the tunnel.
He made the statements after inaugurating the 9.02-km tunnel, which reduces the travel distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km and the travel time by four to five hours. It has been billed as the world’s longest highway tunnel, connecting Manali and Leh and built at a cost of over Rs 3,000 crore. Later, addressing his public meeting in more than six months ever since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic forced a nationwide lockdown in March, Modi said the inauguration of the Atal Tunnel is part of the central government’s resolve that the benefit of development should reach every part of the country and to every person.