Rajnath declares zero tolerance towards terrorism

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh here on Saturday made it clear that the union government implements a “zero tolerance “policy towards terrorism. The minister was here to participate in the golden jubilee celebrations of missile maker Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL).

“India has made the world understand that terrorism is terrorism for everyone. We have told the world that nothing short of "zero tolerance" on terrorism is acceptable,” Singh said. The Home Minister statement assumes significance at the time of troop buildup in Jammu and Kashmir. While appreciating the BDL for making the nation proud by building world-class missiles, he pointed out that Pakistan names its missile to project aggression.

“They (Pakistan) name their missiles after invaders such as -Babur, Ghori, Ghaznavi whereas our missiles have names such as Prithvi, Akash, Agni, Nag, Trishul, etc,” he said taking a dig at our neighbor. The union minister further said that Indian armed forces are not meant to attack other nations, but to protect our interests. “Our forces work for peace and stability at regional, continental and global levels,” Raksha Mantri said. He further said that modernization and indigenization of armed forces will be a priority. “We want to take India to a good position in defense exports by 2025. BDL has a big part to play, “Rajnath Singh said.

Commodore Siddharth Mishra, CMD, BDL said that BDL is working on ‘Amogh’ missile. “. We have prepared missiles like Prithvi and Aakash as part of the Integrated Missile Development Program with DRDO. Along with these works, our focus is on indigenization. We have indigenized 75 to 90 per cent weapon systems procured from France, Russia, and Italy,” he said.

Dr. Sateesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development and Chairman, DRDO said that India has the producing 60 missiles per month and we are ready to produce 100 missiles per month. To commemorate the vision of Bharat Ratna Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, a statue of Dr Kalam was unveiled by the Rajnath Singh at BDL Company’s premises located at Kanchanbagh. A commemorative stamp on BDL was also released by him.