Giving a tough message to Pakistan and China, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said this is a “different India” that can meet its national security challenges. He also Indian soldiers have now the “full backing, they have the right equipment and the infrastructure.”
Making these assertions while addressing the Indian community in Uganda late Wednesday, he said forces, who indulged in cross-border terrorism against India for decades, now know this is a “different India” which will give them a reply. He emphasized that today the country can meet its national security challenges posed by Pakistan and China while underlining the transformation of the country into a new India.
Speaking about the challenges India faces on its borders, Jaishankar said: “Today, people see a different India that is willing to stand up and India which will meet its national security challenges whether it is Uri or whether it is Balakot.”
He was referring to the 2016 Uri attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) insurgents from Pakistan against an Indian Army brigade headquarters and the 2019 Balakot airstrike conducted by Indian warplanes in Balakot, Pakistan against a terrorist training camp.
“Today, the forces which indulged in cross-border terrorism against India for decades and which India tolerated, they now know this is a different India and this India will give them a reply,” he said.
As regards challenges on the border with China, Jaishankar said “For the last three years, in violation of the agreements, the Chinese have brought large forces,” he said. Today the Indian military is deployed at great heights and in very tough conditions, he added.
This situation is different from the past as Indian soldiers have now the “full backing, they have the right equipment and the infrastructure,” he said. He acknowledged that more work has to be done to develop the infrastructure on the border with China as it has been neglected in the past.
“This is a different India which will stand up for its interests and the world will recognise that,” he said. Today, he said India’s policies are not impacted by any outside pressure. “It is a more independent India,” he said.
Today, India cannot be put under pressure by countries that will “tell us where we should buy our oil and where we should not buy our oil.”
“This is an India which will do what is in the interest of its citizens, its consumers,” he said.
India has been snapping Russian oil available at a discount after the West sanctioned Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. India continues to buy Russian oil in large quantities.
He said some people felt “bad” when India joined the Quad.
In November 2017, India, Japan, the US and Australia gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the “Quad” to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence. China has been criticising the formation of the Quad grouping, saying it was aimed at containing Beijing’s rise.
In 2007, Jaishankar said Quad had come up but they bent to pressure and gave up. “But this time we are very clear that if the Quad is in global interest and is good for the world it is good for us,” he said, adding India will do whatever is necessary for the global interest.
Jaishankar said today’s India is an Atmanirbhar (self-reliant) country.
“Atmanirbhar Bharat at the end of the day is actually a confidence that we are capable of many things. We need a leader who gives us the confidence that we can realise that capability and who can give us the policies that will enable us to go in that direction and it is happening,” he said.
This is today a different India which will take positions which will be determined by India’s national interest and “that is very much that you can actually see in the personality of Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi”, he said.