New Delhi: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has targeted countries sharing maritime borders with India and stressed on the need to strengthen the security apparatus to fight island nations trying to paralyse development by building a string of pearls around India’s neck.
“Those who don’t want India to develop, they are trying to paralyse us by creating strings of pearls around India. These activities have started from Maldives, Sri Lanka and gone on to Burma,” he said.
Bhagwat was delivering his annual Vijayadashmi speech at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. The Sangh was founded on the occasion of Vijayadashmi in 1925, and its chief’s annual speech has been used to put out the organisation's perspectives on issues of national and social importance.
Bhagwat also said that authorities need to keep an eye on all smaller island countries around India. “Starting from geographical proximity to Lakshadweep to Andaman and Nicobar. We need to institutionalize a mechanism to keep an eye on all. ”
The RSS chief’s remarks on defence production assume significance as the BJP-led government is under attack from the Congress over the Rafale fighter jet deal with France.
"The country cannot be assured about its security without becoming self-reliant in defence production," Bhagwat said.
He said that to sell its products in the international market, sometimes a country needs to purchase something from a foreign nation. Thus, buying defence equipment may be a part of trade strategy, or at times required also, the RSS chief said.
"This process of give-and-take in trade should not be stopped. It should be on our terms and we should not be dependent on anyone else for our security. We should get technology and enhance our domestic capacity," he added.
Bhagwat also said the country is not careless about its security but there is a need to be more active and vigilant. He asserted the country should become so powerful that no one dares to attack it.
Bhagwat, while referring to Pakistan, said, “Despite India softening its tone to initiate friendship, there is no change in policies from neighbouring countries. We saw even after recent elections they are bent of on fighting us at the border, in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.”
The RSS chief also said India cannot be assured about its security without becoming self-reliant in defence production, while underlining that the country should purchase defence equipment from international market on its own terms.
"India has always displayed its clear intent to maintain peaceful and cordial relations with all countries, in words and deeds—standing and acting firm and making prudent use of our capabilities while initiating bold actions wherever necessary in context of national security," Bhagwat said.
Speaking on border and internal security, he said these are issues of foremost importance as a secure border and internal landscape provide opportunity to the nation for making efforts towards prosperity and development.
Underscoring the importance of keeping the morale of armed forces high, he said it was essential to be more attentive towards their and their families' needs."There have been some laudable efforts in this regard by the government."
Targeting the Leftist forces, he said there have been attempts to create a vicious atmosphere in the country by establishing an ‘anti-national leadership with blind followers solely committed to the neo-left doctrine’ propagated by the so-called ‘urban Maoists’.
“A world of psychological warfare is being carved out of this so-called ‘Mantrayayuuddh’ in our traditional ‘Rajneeti Shastras’ (Political Sciences),” Bhagwat added.
The chief guest at the occasion was Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi who spoke on children and juvenile security issues and problems being faced by multitude of children worldwide and the need to secure them.
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