Narendra Modi attacks opposition over surgical strikes, Mission Shakti

Narendra Modi. Pic/Instagram Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked the opposition parties for raising questions over India's air strikes against Pakistan and its capabilities in the space.

"The country has seen many governments which believed in sloganeering but for the first time it has seen a decisive government which knows how to fulfil its commitments," Modi said as he launched his campaign for the Lok Sabha elections.

"Be it land or sky or space, the government of your 'chowkidar' has shown courage to conduct surgical strikes," he added.

Modi's reference was to the bombing by the Indian Air Force of a terrorist camp in Pakistan on February 26 and Wednesday's launch of an Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) missile that destroyed a satellite orbiting 268 km above the earth.

The Prime Minister said that by raising questions over the government's actions, some opposition leaders had become a "hero" in Pakistan.

"People have to decide whether they need a hero of India or a hero of Pakistan. They have to decide whether they need 'saboot' (proof) or 'sapoot' (hero). Those seeking 'saboot' are challenging the 'sapoot'," he said.

Modi said the country had decided to again form a BJP government "because here is a decisive government which has delivered on every front".

His government, he went on, had shown courage with "surgical strikes" not only on the land and from the sky but also in space.

This is Modi's first election rally for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since the announcement of the April-May Lok Sabha polls by the Election Commission.

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