Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in a function held at Mahalaxmi Race Course on Monday to observe the golden jubilee of the cult song “Ae Mere Vatan ke Logon” said: “We have to focus on the manufacturing of indigenous firearms and weapons which will not just add to the armoury but the country will be able to even export it in the coming years.”

Modi after felicitating songstress Lata Mangeshkar who had sung the song in 1963 in front of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, after India-China war, and war veterans, said: “It is so sad that our ‘jawans’ have to use foreign-make fire arms at the borders...today the war has changed... it is proxy war that kills people.” Harping on his favourite theme to start engineering courses which will help in the manufacturing of fire arms, Modi said : “It is also time to think of constructing a War Memorial to remember the martyrs who laid down their lives at the border.”

“The song written by Kavi Pradeep still wrings our hearts and it is because of this song that we remember our martyrs...and also our soldiers who guard our borders so that we live in peace. It is important to remember our ‘jawan’ are not just there to harass enemy soldiers... but they even put their lives at risk to rescue people trapped in calamity-stricken areas,” Modi summed up his speech.

Earlier, Lata Mangeskar recalled how she sang the song in the presence of Nehru, Indira Gandhi and othere and saw Nehru’s eyes moist after the song.