Vipul Samanth
October 26, 2020
On the occasion of Dussehra, The Defense Minister Rajnath Singh attended a Shastra Puja (worshiping of weapons) at Sikkim's Sukna War Memorial along with the Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravan on 25th October 2020.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh performing rituals of Shastra Puja
(Source: Business Standard)
According to NDTV, once done with the puja he said “India wants an end to the ongoing border tension with China and restoration of peace. This is our objective. But at times, some nefarious incidents keep happening. I am very confident that our soldiers will never allow even an inch of our land to be taken away by anyone”.
Singh also praised the courage and skills of the Indian soldiers after what transpired with India & China at the border recently. According to TOI, he said “I can say with confidence and on the basis of concrete information that the courage and deeds of Indian soldiers during whatever has happened at the India-China border in Ladakh recently will be written in golden letters by historians”.
Twenty Indian soldiers sacrificed their lives for the country during a physical faceoff against the Chinese soldiers. Some Indian officials believed that Indian Army managed to kill nearly forty on the Chinese side. While others said that the exact numbers were unknown but China did suffer heavy casualties.
But on 6th of July, according to The Eurasian times, Jianli Yang, a former Chinese military official and son of a leader in the Chinese communist party, spoke to the Chinese media houses and claimed that more than 100 Chinese soldiers were killed by Indian soldiers in the dreadful conflict that took place on 15th of June.
The Indian troops have been displaying power in the last few months. Occupying the number for strategic heights in the Mukhapari, Rezang La, Magar hill areas around the southern bank of Pangong Lake. They have also strengthened the numbers and weaponry along the 3500 km long border with China.
A day before the Shastra Puja on Saturday, Mr. Singh addressed the Indian troops at the base, according to The Times of India. He said, "India always tries to maintain a good relations with its neighbors but situations arose from time to time where it’s armed forces had to make supreme sacrifices to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of this country”.
Rajnath Singh also inaugurated a new road in Sikkim -Alternate Alignment, Gangtok-Nathula Road via the video conference from the Sukna based headquarters.
For several years Mr. Rajnath Singh has been performing Shastra Puja at the occasion of Dussehra. The Puja this year was actually scheduled to take place at the high altitude area of Herathang near the Line of Actual Control in Sikkim. But the plans changed due to the bad weather.
To tackle such horrible winter conditions India has already bought high altitude warfare kits from the US on an urgent basis for its troops, as reported by The Times of India.
Sources: (Times Of India, NDTV, The Eurasian times)
Edited by Shreya Gupta