Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an unpredictable man. To anticipate his next move would be foolish on the part on anyone. For the past six years, if there is one fact which has been established beyond doubt, it is that PM Modi keeps his cards very close to himself, and not an extra soul is aware of the same. It is for this very reason that when he landed in Leh, Ladakh this morning, the nation, and surely the 14 Corps soldiers were taken by surprise. What was scheduled as the Chief of Defence Staff landing in Ladakh today soon became a Prime Ministerial visit, as PM Modi took it upon himself to take stock of the situation on ground, meet with the soldiers injured during the June 15 Galwan valley clash, and deliver a fiery speech at Nimmoo.
All this even as Chinese President Xi Jinping is nowhere to be seen. Forget visiting forward areas along the LAC, Xi Jinping has not even himself acknowledged the death of multiple Chinese soldiers who were killed on June 15. India, on the other hand, has been mourning the 20 soldiers who were killed in action on the fateful night. China has been particularly squeamish about the escalations with India, and seems to have outsourced all its outraging to parrot-like media outlets, the likes of which include Global Times and Xinhua News.
PM Modi has upped the ante. His message to China is clear: India will not be cowed down, no matter what the costs. While China refuses to acknowledge the sacrifices of what should be bravehearts for them, the Indian Prime Minister has with his visit to Ladakh today, demonstrated to China that he represents the sentiments of 1.3 billion Indians, who are in no mood to tolerate Chinese belligerence in and around their territory.
While speaking to the personnel of the Army, ITBP and Air Force at Nimmoo, PM Modi roaringly said that Galwan Valley was Indian territory, in what should serve as a clear warning to China, which has been strangely claiming the valley as its own post June 15. “Friends, your dedication to the protection of motherland is matchless. The conditions in which you are protecting and serving India, nobody in the world can compete with that. The bravery that you and your compatriots showed, a message has gone to the world about India’s strength. Your courage is higher than the heights where you are posted today,” Prime Minister Modi said. He added, “The courage which you all and your peers showed has sent across the message across the world about India’s strength. I can see women, soldiers, too. This inspires us more.”
PM Modi invoked Lord Krishna, and said, “We are the same people who pray to the flute playing Lord Krishna but we are also the same people who idolise and follow the same Lord Krishna who carries the Sudarshana Chakra.” He added, “Those who are weak can never initiate peace, bravery is a pre-requisite for peace.”
Interestingly, without explicitly referring to China, PM Modi lambasted expansionist forces, and said that such forces have never been successful, historically so. “Era of expansionism is over. The world has moved on the path of development. Expansionist forces have ruined the world in the last century. But they have either been defeated or forgotten in history, or have been forced to change course,” PM Modi said, in what was a direct dare to Chinese belligerence not just in the Himalayas, but also in all other regions which China is casting its perverse eyes upon, including the South China Sea.
#WATCH "Age of expansionism is over, this is the age of development. History is witness that expansionist forces have either lost or were forced to turn back," PM Modi in #Ladakh pic.twitter.com/0GzeF0K4ul
— ANI (@ANI) July 3, 2020
PM Modi’s visit to Ladakh, while will definitely boost the morale of our forces, but will also go a long way in showing China that India is more than willing to take its belligerence by the horns, and is of course, ever capable of giving the minions comprising the PLA a bloody nose. PM Modi said that India’s enemies have seen both “fire and fury”, and that should serve as reason enough for China to immediately roll back all its troops, and revert to status quo ante as was prevalent prior to May.
