Ask Pakistanis about strength of BrahMos missile: Yogi Adityanath

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said a glimpse of the valour of the BrahMos missile was seen during Operation Sindoor and if that was not enough, one should ask Pakistanis about it.

He also said the time has come to deal a crushing blow to terrorism and to achieve it, the entire country has to unite under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the BrahMos Aerospace Integration and Testing Facility here, Adityanath said, "What is the BrahMos missile? You have seen a glimpse of the valour of the BrahMos missile during Operation Sindoor. And if the glimpse was not visible, then ask Pakistanis about the strength of the missile."

Adityanath said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared that any incident of terror will be considered as a war. "Until we completely crush terrorism, there will be no solution to this problem. The time has come to crush it and for this, entire India, in one voice, has to unite under Modi's leadership," he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said terrorism is a "dog's tail" that can never be straightened. "Terrorism will not follow the language of love. We have to give a reply to it in its own language. And in this direction, India has given a message to the world through Operation Sindoor," he said.

Adityanath congratulated Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the armed forces' personnel for the success of Operation Sindoor.

"It is necessary for any self-reliant country to achieve its goals on its own, instead of depending on other countries for its defence supplies. Israel is an example of this. It has achieved the goal of self-reliance in the field of security. It has forced its neighbouring enemy countries to face tough times," he said.

The chief minister said the Defence Manufacturing Corridor and the BrahMos missile are part of the target set for the country by Modi in 2014. He said in 2018, the prime minister had announced two defence corridors in the Union Budget.

"After the government was formed again at the Centre in 2019, Rajnath Singh, as the defence minister, organised the Defence Expo in Lucknow for the first time in 2020. He had also announced then that a production unit of BrahMos missiles will be set up in Lucknow," Adityanath said.

He said the target for Uttar Pradesh was to invest Rs 50,000 crore in six defence-manufacturing corridors and provide employment to one lakh youngsters.

"So far, along with the Defence Expo, we have signed 57 MoUs with companies from different parts of the country and the world, through which investments worth about Rs 30,000 crore are going to be made in the defence sector. We are moving ahead with the target of providing employment to about 60,000 youngsters," he said.

Drawing a comparison with the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath said while there were no jobs before 2017 and people were migrating, the state is witnessing investments now.

"Earlier, companies had problems coming here because there was no policy and no security. Today, people are safe, their investments are safe and we are moving ahead with strength to meet the country's security needs. We have the required infrastructure now," he said.

The chief minister asserted that his government will facilitate any defence production-related programme.

On the occasion, a book, titled "Brahmand", on defence production was released.

Adityanath also handed over appointment letters to those selected by BrahMos Aerospace. A replica of the BrahMos missile was presented to the chief minister, according to an official statement.

Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, Industrial Development Minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi, Rajya Sabha MP Brajlal, Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh and senior officials of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and BrahMos Aerospace were present on the occasion, the statement said.