PM Modi blames partition for Pahalgam attack: ‘We should have listened to Sardar Patel’
PM Modi, on his second day of the Gujarat trip, said whenever India and Pakistan went to war, our Indian Armed Forces—our bravehearts — defeated them in a way they would never forget.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 27 May blamed the 1947 decision of Partition for the Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in Kashmir last month.
“When the Partition happened in 1947, the chains should have been cut at that time, but instead, the country was divided into three parts. Soon after, the first terrorist attack was reported in Kashmir, and Pakistan occupied one part of Kashmir," PM Modi said, addressing a gathering during the 20 years of Gujarat Urban Growth Story in Gujarat's Gandhinagar on Tuesday.
“If we had killed these Mujahideens; if we had listened to Sardar Patel, he wanted the Army not to stop until we get back PoK,” Modi said.
For 75 years, we suffered, and what happened in Pahalgam was a distorted form of that attack, Modi said. "The Indian Army has defeated Pakistan every time. Pakistan understood that it cannot win from India,” he said.
Two weeks after the Pahalgam terror attack, India on 7 May conducted precision strikes on at least nine terror camps in Pakistan in what is now known as ‘Operation Sindoor’. India and Pakistan indulged in four days of military action post Operation Sindoor. The two nations agreed on an understanding to halt military action on 10 May.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of various development projects worth ₹5,536 crore at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar. Tuesday was his second day of the Gujarat trip.
‘If they are engaging in war, then the response..'
PM Modi said whenever India and Pakistan went to war, our Indian Armed Forces—our bravehearts—defeated them in a way they would never forget. Realising they could never win a direct war against India, they turned to proxy warfare, providing military training and support to terrorists instead, he said.
The Prime Minister said that Pakistan's support for terrorism cannot be called a proxy war, as those who were killed after 6 May were given state honours. Pakistani flags were draped over their coffins, and their military saluted them, he said.
“It proves that terrorist activities are not a proxy war but a well-planned war strategy. You are already at war, and you will receive the response accordingly. We do not seek enmity with anyone. We want to live peacefully. We also want to progress so that we can contribute to the welfare of the world,” Modi said.
‘World’s fourth-largest economy’
Modi recalled how the Indian economy was at 11th place in the world when he took oath as PM for the first time in 2014. “Today, we are the world’s fourth-largest economy. I remember we celebrated moving from sixth to fifth place — a moment that was especially significant because we surpassed the very nation that ruled over us for 250 years,” he said.
He said that now, as we rise to fourth place, there’s growing pressure—and even more determination—to become the third-largest economy.
“This country no longer wants to wait. And if anyone suggests we should be patient, you can hear voices in the background saying, ‘Modi hai to mumkin hai’. That is why our clear target is to make India a developed nation by 2047,” the Prime Minister said.