india

Updated: Apr 06, 2019 10:54 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the Pulwama terror attack has proved India’s stand that Pakistan was in the business of exporting terror to India and that the world was now standing beside India in its fight against terror.

“Pulwama has convinced the world that what India says is right. Because of that, the entire world supported us when we conducted the air strikes,” PM Modi said in an exclusive interview to Hindustan, a sister publication of Hindustan Times.

He said there was a time when only Russia was standing with India on the international stage, while the rest of the world was backing Pakistan.

Click here for the full interview.

“After five years (of the BJP government in power), only China is with Pakistan and the rest of the world is with India,” he said.

“Even after Uri, I publicly said that my soldiers’ blood will not go in vain. After Pulwama, I had said that they had made a big mistake. The action that followed was the desire of the common people,” he asserted.

Saying that India knows well that the BJP government and Modi have a zero tolerance policy against terrorism, he stated, “As far as the fight against terrorism is concerned, Pulwama or before Pulwama; even when I was the chief minister (of Gujarat), or now; both the BJP and I have the same view.”

Responding to a question regarding Pakistan on whether there was a possibility of a dialogue with the neighbouring country, Modi said that even before he was sworn in as prime minister, he had reached out to the prime minister of Pakistan.

“When I was not even the prime minister, I had not taken the oath then, I had called the prime minister of Pakistan to attend the oath ceremony, only for the sake of our country... I had given a message that ‘yes, we will go to a decisive stage’. After that I went to Lahore,” he said.

But he said, even after that, such things (terror attacks) happened. “So, why does the world believe me? The world has seen that Modi has taken initiatives to shake hands. I wanted to explain to the world that it was I who went ahead on the path of friendship and I am also fully prepared to tackle any hostility. The world trusts Modi. Pakistan did try very hard, but I put it in the dock,” he asserted.