NEW DELHI: Stating that India had no dedicated policies for internal and external
security
since Independence till 2014, making decisions related to these issues largely driven by its foreign policy, home minister
Amit Shah
on Monday said the
Modi govt
had brought clarity to
foreign policy
that now focuses on maintaining friendship with the whole world without compromising the security of the country or its citizens.
“Modi ji has presented the country’s internal and external security policy to the world with thrust, and the world has also respected our rights,” Shah said while delivering a lecture on ‘Security Beyond Tomorrow: Forging India’s Resilient Future’ and launching the ORF Foreign Policy Survey.
ORF Foreign Policy Survey-2023 shows 86% respondents appreciating the foreign policy of India.
Shah said India has made comprehensive changes in the field of
internal security
in the last 10 years based on its concrete policy and has been successful in building a strong internal security network. “In the last 10 years under PM Modi, Bharat has attained political stability, corruption-free governance, public welfare, an investor-friends agenda and a peaceful environment,” he said.
Stating that appeasement thrust and wrong policies of the previous govts had created many internal security problems like violence and unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, Left-wing extremism and insurgency in the North-East, Shah said this had led to thousands of innocent civilians and security personnel becoming victims. “Since 2014, the Modi govt has adopted the policy of zero-tolerance and made a strategy to completely eliminate terrorism by dealing a blow to the entire terror ecosystem,” he said.
As a result, he said the total number of violent incidents fell 62% from 33,000 during 2004-2014 to 12,466 during 2014-2023. Total number of deaths declined by 72% in the period under comparison, shared Shah. After the reading down of Article 370 and Article 35A, which were fuelling separatism, the Modi govt has placed tablets and laptops in the hands of the once stone-pelting J&K youths, Shah said.
Similarly, the ‘whole of govt’ approach had helped cut the popular support base of Left-wing extremists with strengthened security arrangements and by taking development and welfare schemes to the grassroots. This has reduced LWE violence by 75%. In the northeast too, insurgency has been largely contained by signing nine peace agreements in the last nine years and making 9,000 youths join the mainstream.
Stating that no country is safe without secure borders, Shah said border-to-border and people-to-people connectivity has been strengthened. Under the Vibrant Village Programme, 100% saturation of 300 govt schemes has been achieved in 6,000 border villages.
Shah said while adopting a zero-tolerance policy against terrorism, several legal changes have been made to create a strong judicial system. This includes important amendments to UAPA and the recent enactment of three new laws to modernise the criminal justice system.
English (US) ·