MARGAO: Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday paid glorious tributes to former Goa chief minister and defence minister Manohar Parrikar stating that the seminal work done by him on the defence front has helped change the world’s outlook towards India. The surgical strikes, he said, only helped reinforce India’s sovereignty.
Speaking at the bhoomi-pujan function of the National Forensic Science University at Dharbandora, Shah said that Parrikar would be remembered for a long time to come primarily for two things – one, for the implementation of One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP) for the armed forces, and two, for the surgical strikes across the Line of Control.
“Under Modi’s leadership, Parrrikar gave the gift of OROP to our armed forces. By implementing OROP, Modi-Parrikar in a way acknowledged the tyag, tapasya and balidan of our soldiers who spend the best years of their lives protecting our borders in temperatures ranging from -43 degrees C to +43 degrees C. The guardians of our borders have now been fully reassured that their families are being taken care of by the government of India. Modi and Parrikar will be remembered for ages,” Shah said.
He said that when India responded to the killings of our jawans in Poonch with surgical strikes across the Line of Control, a stern message was sent across the globe that flirting with India’s borders was now no longer an easy task. “The surgical strikes, for the first time ever, helped restore the honour of the nation’s borders and thus reinforced India’s sovereignty.”
He said that the event changed the way the world in India. “Earlier, such acts of border incursions would only be followed by talks (to restore peace) and representations, now every provocation will be retaliated by an equal measure,” he said.