NEW DELHI, Dec 14: The defence minister Rajnath Singh has called upon the industry in the country to step up to forge partnerships to provide the armed forces with the right technology and equipment for defending the country and also for driving the export of military hardware.
Addressing the annual convention of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here on Monday, Singh made some unusual blunt remarks against China on the stand-off in eastern Ladakh and castigated Pakistan as the “fountainhead of terrorism in the world.”
Even as the Chief of the Defence Staff general Bipin Rawat said the Indian armed forces were under “high levels of preparation” on land, sea and air, Singh eulogized the extraordinary performances of the security forces in dealing with China and cross-border terrorism provoked by Pakistan.
“India has stood up to China’s unprovoked aggression on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and fought the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and forced its troops to go back, though Beijing’s assertion of power is creating uncertainty across the region,” Singh said.
Stating that India had proved that it can fight anyone, Singh said, “The unprovoked aggression on our Himalayan frontiers is a reminder of how the world is changing, how existing agreements are being challenged, how power is being asserted not just in the Himalayas but across the Indo-Pacific, and how uncertain the future of the region and world could be in this backdrop.”
“As you are aware, there is a big build-up of armed forces at the LAC in Ladakh. In these testing times, our forces have shown exemplary courage and remarkable fortitude. They fought the PLA with utmost bravery and forced them to go back,” he said during the online event.
Singh said: “There comes a point in a nation’s history, every now and then, when it needs to stand up for itself, tell that India can fight anyone, that it’s capable of taking any challenge, just to survive.”
He further said coming generations will be proud of what the armed forces have managed to achieve this year. He said while the superiority between the two countries in respect of military might could be debatable, there was “absolutely no scope of ambiguity” that India was far ahead of China in leading the world with ideas and soft power.
“Whenever there is a situation at the LAC, the most obvious outcome is a comparison between India and China’s military strength. There can be a serious debate on who owns more military might but when it comes to soft power there is no scope of ambiguity,” he said.
Buddhism, he said, had a “monumental influence over China, to an extent that before the 1949 revolution, almost 80% of China’s population followed Buddhism”. Singh also quoted a Chinese scholar who had said India “has culturally dominated and controlled China for more than 2,000 years without sending a single soldier across the border.”
Singh also referred to the issue of terror emanating from Pakistan and said the world is only now acknowledging the issue though India grappled with it alone for years.
“We have been victims of cross-border terrorism, yet have fought the scourge alone even when there was no one to support us but later, they understood we were right about Pakistan being the fountainhead of terrorism,” he said.
Pointing to troops “in the forefront fighting icy winds to guard our borders”, Singh asked if the industry could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the armed forces by using the country’s economic strength to its advantage and forging the right partnerships to provide the right technology and military products to the three services.
“We have opened doors to the private sector, incentivised domestic production, are creating defence corridors and doing a lot more. We are also willing to engage in meaningful joint ventures and partnerships with other countries,” he said, adding the industry should produce defence hardware in India for the world.
Meanwhile, CDS Rawat in an interview said the Indian armed forces would leave no stone unturned to safeguard the nation be it at land, air or the ocean. He said “high levels of preparation” were underway on land, sea and air as “China attempts to change the status quo on Line of Actual Control (LAC) along the northern border.”
Underlining the importance of technology in the armed forces, the CDS said, “Time has come now to look at the future of war-fighting imbibing technology into our systems. We have got adequate forces to counter any threat or challenges that we may face on northern borders.”
The comments came as India authorised the defence forces to enhance their stocking of weapons and ammunition for a 15-day intense war as the country is in the middle of conflict with China over border row in eastern Ladakh. The official sources said, the authorisation to increase the weapon and ammunition reserves to minimum 15-I levels from the earlier existing 10-day stocking is to prepare the defence forces for a two-front war with both China and Pakistan.
The three services were also given the emergency financial powers to procure items worth Rs 300 crore to buy any equipment which they felt could be of use to them for fighting wars. The defence forces have been buying a number of spares, weapons, missiles and systems for effectively taking on the two adversaries.
(Manas Dasgupta)