INTERNATIONAL DESK: In a veiled message to China and Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said India’s surgical strikes and airstrikes have conveyed that the country is fighting and effectively responding to challenges of both terrorism and expansionism.

Addressing the nation from Red Fort on Independence Day, the Prime Minister said that today’s India was resolving the issues which were waiting to be resolved for decades and centuries.

“By conducting surgical strikes and airstrikes, we have given a message of the emergence of a new India to our enemies. It also conveys that India can take tough decisions…Today the world is looking at India from a new perspective and this vision has two important aspects–terrorism and expansionism. India is fighting both these challenges and is also responding with great courage in a tactful manner,” said PM Modi.

The Prime Minister noted that today’s India of the 21st century has the ability to make big goals and achieve them.

“Today India is also resolving those issues, which were waiting to be resolved for decades, centuries. Be it the historic decision to abrogate Article 370, or the GST system that frees the country from the tax trap, or one rank one pension for our military comrades. Or a peaceful solution to the Ramjanmabhoomi case, we have seen all this come true in the last few years,” he said.

Further listing other important decisions, PM Modi said India is continuously proving its resolve by decisions like, “Bru-Reang Agreement should be done in Tripura after decades. OBC commission should be given Constitutional status and the BDC and DDC elections were held for the first time after independence in Jammu and Kashmir.”

To motivate the countrymen especially youth, PM Modi recited a poem and said today is the right time to start a new chapter in India’s development journey by tapping into the unused potential. (ANI)