Rajnath in Arunachal: Indian Army can face any challenge on border

Built at a total cost of Rs 724 crore, eight of the 28 projects are in Ladakh, five in Arunachal Pradesh, four in Jammu & Kashmir, three each in Sikkim, Punjab and Uttarakhand, and two in Rajasthan. Other than the Siyom bridge, the rest of the projects were inaugurated virtually.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Siang, Tuesday. (ANI)

In his address, Singh made an indirect reference to China’s transgression attempts along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). “India has never started any war and has not seized even an inch of any other country’s territory. If someone mistakes our love for peace for our weakness, then I want to tell them that we are devotees of peace but we are also devotees of strength. Shri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita inspires us to war for the protection of duty and truth. Some time back our Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi said ‘this is not the time for war’, making India’s resolution clear. This means that we do not believe in war, but if conflict is imposed on us, we have strongly fought against it and will do so in the future. For this, we should always remain prepared, and we are prepared,” he said.

“The Indian Army has the capability to face any challenge along the border,” he said. “Recently, our forces effectively countered the adversary in the northern sector and dealt with the situation with bravery and promptness. This was made possible due to adequate infrastructural development in the region,” he said.

The Siyom bridge in Siang, Arunachal Pradesh, was inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday. (ANI)

Indian and Chinese troops clashed in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector on December 9 last year, beating each other with sticks and canes. A few days after the incident, Singh told Parliament that “PLA troops tried to transgress the LAC in Yangtse area of Tawang sector and unilaterally change the status quo.”

“Building connectivity in as many border regions as possible is among our government’s priorities so that along with development, the people living in these areas also have a sense of assurance. Despite its beauty and natural resources, our Northeast region has been cut off from development for a long time, sometimes in the name of security issues, sometimes because of lack of connectivity… It is our opinion that the Northeast region is not just important for the development of the nation but also for our relationships with East Asia in trade, travel and tourism… The stronger this region is, the stronger the country will be,” he said.

He described the projects as a testament to the efforts of the government and the BRO towards the development of border areas in order to enhance the operational preparedness of the armed forces and ensure socio-economic development of the far-flung regions.

In a tweet, Singh said that when he first saw the abbreviated ‘BRO’, he thought it stood for ‘bro’, as used by the younger generation for ‘brother’. He said he wasn’t off the mark, as the BRO has emerged as the “nation’s brother”.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said the key functions of the Siyom bridge are to facilitate “speedy induction of troops, heavy equipment and mechanised vehicles to forward areas of Upper Siang district, Tuting and Yinkiong Region” and “boost socio-economic development of the region”.

Singh also inaugurated three telemedicine nodes, two in Ladakh and one in Mizoram, which will be connected through VSAT to service hospitals for telemedicine consultations.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, who also addressed the event, said that while 20,000 km of roads had been constructed in the state between 1947 and 2013, “more than 10,000 km of roads have been added” since 2014.