Govt will stand with the Army, assures Rajnath Singh

Laying the foundation stone of ‘Sainya Dham’ in Dehradun, Singh also said that there are “some forces” which want to damage the relations between India and Nepal.

“Being a representative of the government, I want to say that no matter what, even if we have to live with our heads down, we are not going to let our relation with our neighbour Nepal be damaged. I believe saying that much is enough,” he said.

Wednesday’s foundation stone-laying ceremony for ‘Sainya Dham’ — or soldiers’ memorial — also marked the conclusion of the BJP-governed state government’s ‘Shaheed Samman Yatra’, conducted through the state to collect soil from homes of 1,734 soldiers who died in action. The soil collected is to be used in the Sainya Dham’s construction.

Uttarakhand is schedule to go to the polls early next year.

Four years ago, Singh said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the state has four dhams — Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath — and that there should be a fifth dham: a sainya dham. “Based on his expectations, Uttarakhand government has started its work and I want to congratulate them for that. I also want to say that this work should be started and completed at the earliest,” he said.

He said: “Even if there is a wrong decision unknowingly, the government will stand with the Army, no matter what. This is the assurance we have given them (forces).”

Stating that Pakistan keeps on acting against India, he said: “But you saw that the Modi government did what never happened before. We gave a message through a surgical strike and an airstrike that we can not only attack the enemy on this side, but even on the other side, if needed.”