"Governments before 2014 kept India dependent on foreign countries for defence needs": PM Modi
Mar 12, 2024
Pokhran (Rajasthan) [India], March 12 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that governments prior to 2014 deliberately kept India dependent on foreign countries for its defence needs.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with delegates from more than 30 countries witnessed the war exercise "Bharat Shakti" at the Pokhran field firing range in Jaisalmer district.
Addressing defence personnel and locals, PM Modi said, "The country's first major scam took place in army procurement. Before 2014 there were discussions on scams in defense deals and pending defence deals. Past governments deliberately kept India dependent on foreign countries for its defence needs."
The war exercise displayed the firepower capability of indigenous weapons and the operational readiness of all three services of the defence forces.
Without naming the Congress government, the Prime Minister said that past governments destroyed ordinance factories.
"We gave life to these ordinance factories and converted them into seven big companies. HAL was brought to the brink of ruin. We transformed HAL into a record profit-making company. We appointed CDS and built a national memorial for our brave martyred soldiers which was not done by earlier government. Governments before 2014 were afraid of building modern infrastructure on borders. But we built modern roads and modern tunnels in border areas," he said.
Prime Minister Modi highlighted significant strides towards bolstering India's self-reliance in the defence sector, stating that in the last 10 years, his government has taken big steps one after the other.
"We improved the policy, we included the private sector in it and we encouraged MSMEs and startups. Defence corridors are being built in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and more than Rs seven thousand crores have been invested in them," PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister underscored the growth with the inception of over 150 defence startups in the last decade.
