No major terror attack in India since Modi became Prime Minister: Rajnath Singh

KEVADIA: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said not a single major terror attack has taken place in the country ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, and asserted that terrorists were scared of the BJP government at the Centre.

Addressing the Gujarat BJP leaders on the second day of the party's three-day state executive meeting at Kevadia in Narmada district, Mr Singh also slammed the Congress saying the party was not sensitive enough towards the Army jawans as it kept the issue of One Rank-One Pension (OROP) unresolved for 40 years.

"No matter what it takes, we will not let terrorists succeed. Forget about Jammu and Kashmir, no major terrorist attack took place in any part of the country after the arrival of Modiji. This is our major achievement. It seems that terrorists are now scared of the BJP government. This is not a small thing," he said.

"Terrorists now realise that they are not secure even in their safe havens. What we did (surgical strike in PoK) after the Uri attack gave a clear message to the world that we can kill terrorists on this side as well as by crossing the border if need arises," Mr Singh added.

If the previous Congress governments were sensitive towards Army jawans, the issue of OROP, which the jawans had been demanding for 40 years, would have been resolved. But the Congress did not accept the demand, the minister said.

"But, Modiji implemented it immediately. This shows the difference between a Congress government and a BJP government," he said.

Mr Singh attacked the Congress and its leaders saying that they only used Mahatma Gandhi's name, but failed to follow in his footsteps.

Referring to Ram temple at Ayodhya, he said such issues are not mere slogans, but BJP's commitment, for which, the party had sacrificed three of its state governments after the Babri mosque structure was demolished.

"We always fulfil what we promise. These are not mere election slogans...it's our cultural commitment. Now, no force can stop the construction of a grand Ram temple. We had sacrificed three of our state governments after the structure (mosque) was razed. Though the Centre had dismissed three of our governments, we never diluted our commitment and movement," Mr Singh added.

After his address, the Ministry of Defence and the Gujarat Government signed an MoU for the upcoming Defence Expo-2022. It was signed in the presence of Singh and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Mr Rupani announced that the Defence Expo-2022 will be held for four days between March 10 and 13 in Gandhinagar next year. While the seminars will be held at Mahatma Mandir, the helipad exhibition centre will serve as the exhibition site for the expo, a media statement said.

A meeting of Gujarat BJP's state executive began at Kevadia on Wednesday with the party's state unit chief CR Paatil presiding over it.

Key leaders who are attending the meet include Mr Singh, Mr Rupani, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and in-charge of Gujarat BJP Bhupender Yadav, among others, a party release said, adding that others who have joined the meeting include all the MLAs, MPs, members of executive committee, party's state office-bearers and presidents of district and city units.

This is for the first time the Gujarat BJP has organised a "paperless state executive" meeting, wherein invitees are given tablets with all the required information and links related to the event, the release added.