Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is busy campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls, in a recent interaction said that India should not bother much about its neighbour Pakistan and focus on its own goal.
The Prime Minister further stated that he has put a lock on Pakistan being a factor in running India.
"We shouldn't bother much about Pakistan and whether it changes its approach or not. For the last 10 years, I have put a lock on Pakistan being a factor in running India," the BJP leader told Republic during an exclusive interview, on being asked if there have been any apparent changes in Pakistan's approach in the last decade.
"Let Pakistan manage two square meals. We dont't need to waste our time," the Prime Minister said further, adding that India has moved far ahead and can't plan its development with Pakistan as a reference. He called upon Indians to think and take care of the new generations instead of other things.
As part of his election rallies, the Prime Minister has been making frequent references to Pakistan. Recently, Modi asserted his government has adopted a bold new approach on national security and believes in hitting terrorists by entering their homes instead of sending dossiers on them which was the practice under the Congress rule.
Unlike the practice during the Congress rule of sending dossiers to Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the BJP-led government takes terrorists head on, Modi emphasised recently in Maharashtra.
“During the Congress regime, the news headlines were about India handing over another dossier to Pakistan about terror activities. It used to be big news. Some of our friends in the media used to clap after any such dossier was sent,” the PM said at an election rally in central Maharashtra’s Latur.
“Today, India doesn’t send dossiers. ‘Aaj Bharat ghar mein ghus ke marta hai’ (Today, India enters homes of terrorists and hits them hard),” Modi said.
The BJP stalwart highlighted anti-terror operations undertaken by his government after assuming office in 2014 and added this approach marks the rise of a ‘New Bharat’.
“The headlines in Naya Bharat are: Mission LOC, India punishes Pakistan through surgical strikes,” Modi told the gathering.