Mumbai: India needs a strong and able leadership which does not respond to smaller neighbours with folded hands, said BJP prime ministerial aspirant Narendra Modi on Monday night at a concert in Mumbai.
"We respond to a smaller country with folded hands when enemy soldiers behead our soldier. This cannot be tolerated. We need a strong leadership which can live up to the expectations of Indian jawans and the Indian people", he said.
Modi attended a huge gathering to mark the 51st anniversary of the iconic song "Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon" at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse on Monday night in the presence of Lata Mangeshkar, who sang this song 51 years ago at the Red Fort soon after the Sino-India war debacle.
Modi attacked the Centre over lack of a war memorial as he targeted the massive constituency in the armed forces, minutes after felicitating melody queen Lata Mangeshkar on the 51st anniversary of her memorable song 'Aye Mere Watan Ke Logon'.
In his politically loaded speech, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate referred to the beheading of an Indian soldier by Pakistan, cyber attacks by China and alleged lack of funding for acquisition of weaponry, to mount a scalding assault on the Centre.
"There is no country in the world where there is not a war memorial. India has fought several wars, thousands of our soldiers have been martyred but there is no memorial to honour their sacrifice.
"Should we not remember them? Should not there be a war memorial? I feel some good things have been left for me to do," he said, apparently referring to surveys predicting a good BJP showing in the Lok Sabha polls.
As the crowd lustily cheered "Modi lao desh bachao (bring Modi, save the nation), the Gujarat Chief Minister said,"this is not the voice of Mumbai alone, this is the voice of the entire country, from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari, and it is said people's voice is a message from God."
