Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation Shri Amit Shah delivered a lecture on “Security Beyond Tomorrow: Forging India’s Resilient Future” and launched ‘ORF Foreign Policy Survey’ in New Delhi today.
In his address, Shri Amit Shah said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, India has made comprehensive changes in the field of internal security in the last 10 years based on its concrete policy. He said that for the first time after independence, a successful effort has been made in these 10 years to ensure internal security on the basis of policy change. Shri Shah added that in these 10 years, under the leadership of Modi ji, India has been successful in building a strong internal security network.
The Union Home Minister said that ‘ORF Foreign Policy Survey-2023’ has been launched today and this shows that Prime Minister Modi and the Government of India have been successful in taking even a difficult subject like foreign policy to the common people of the country. In this survey, about 86 percent people have appreciated the foreign policy of India. Shri Shah said that the successful organization of G20 and the unanimously passed Delhi Declaration have put India’s positive image before the world in terms of diplomatic success. The G20 summit has succeeded in spreading our basic mantra of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ to the whole world. This G20 summit has become the ambassador of India’s cultural heritage and prosperity in the whole world.
Shri Amit Shah said that the year 2024 is also important for the whole world because this year elections are going to be held in 40 democratic countries of the world and about 3.3 billion people will vote in these elections. Nearly 1 billion voters of India will also vote in the Lok Sabha elections. He said that we will celebrate the festival of democracy in a very good manner in India, the world’s oldest and largest democracy.
The Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, today the whole world is talking about India’s success story and Modi ji has made India recognized as a solution-providing country for many challenges like terrorism, climate change, Solar Alliance and Millets initiative. He said that Modi ji is the most popular Head of State in the world. Today people know and consider India as a “Vishwa Mitra” (Friend of the world).
Shri Amit Shah said that in the last 10 years, due to the efforts of Prime Minister Modi, India has achieved great success in establishing political stability, corruption-free governance, public welfare, investor-friendly agenda and peaceful environment. He said that today India has become the fastest growing economy in the world with a growth rate of 7.6 per cent. He added that the Modi government has lifted 25 crore people out of multidimensional poverty and raised the living standards of 60 crore people. Shri Shah said that PM Modi has eliminated all the shortcomings of 70 years in these 10 years. These 60 crore people have got to taste the fruits of independence for the first time. He said that the Narendra Modi government has worked to free India’s democracy forever from the three scourges of corruption, nepotism, and appeasement. He said that UPI has became the new identity of digital India and many countries of the world have accepted it.
Shri Amit Shah said that the appeasement policy of the previous governments had created many problems for the country. There was violence and unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, left-wing extremist-affected areas, and the Northeast for decades due to several wrong policies. He said that India shares a land border with six countries and a maritime border with seven countries. Home Minister said that in 75 years we have faced terrorism, extremism, and left-wing extremism on the internal security front, and thousands of innocent civilians and security personnel have become victims of these. He said that since 2014, the Modi government has adopted the policy of zero tolerance and made a strategy to completely eliminate terrorism. We have not only considered it necessary to deal with terrorism, but we have also dealt to blow its ecosystem. Due to its two-pronged policy, the Modi government has achieved huge success in these three hotspots. Shri Shah said that we have achieved this success due to the Whole of Government Approach, Cooperation and Coordination between all the agencies, Strong legal framework, Legal framework being created for Justice Delivery, Technology-based Database, and Knowledge Sharing. He said that under the multi-agency approach, we adopted a different policy in each theatre sector and achieved unexpected success in all three hotspots.
The Union Home Minister said that between 2004 and 2014, the number of violent incidents was 33,000, while between 2014 and 2023 it has come down by 62 percent to 12,466. The total number of deaths among civilians and security forces has declined by 72 percent from 11,900 to 3,276. He said that we had abolished Articles 370 and 35A, which was fuelling separatism in Jammu & Kashmir for years. People in Kashmir got constitutional rights and today there are more than 30,000 local representatives. Apart from this, more than 100 laws of the Country which were not applicable in Jammu & Kashmir have been implemented for the people of Kashmir by removing Article 370.
Shri Amit Shah said that in the last 9 years, we have signed 9 peace agreements in the Northeast under which more than 9,000 youth have given up arms and came into the mainstream. The Modi government has worked to resolve border, racial, and religious disputes in the Northeast. He said that AFSPA has been removed from more than 70 percent of the area. The Narendra Modi government has spent Rs 14 lakh crore on infrastructure development in the Northeast in just 10 years between 2014 and 2024. Today, rail and air connectivity work is going on in all the states of the Northeast.
The Home Minister said that in the Left Wing Extremism-affected areas, we took many development and poor welfare schemes to the grassroots level. He said that this drove the poor tribal people away from the leftist extremists. Due to this, the popular support base of the extremists was cut off and by following a strict policy against those who had weapons in their hands, the Narendra Modi government has reduced 75 percent violence by strengthening the security arrangements in the entire area.
The Home Minister said that the Modi government has moved forward in this direction with the Whole of Government Approach. The government laid emphasis on education, poor welfare schemes for the poor, strengthening infrastructure and having negotiation and peace agreements. He said that even after this, a strong message was given to those who did not respect the peace agreement by adopting a policy of zero tolerance against them. By placing tablets and laptops in the hands of the stone-carrying youth, PM Modi has given them the right to connect with India’s growth story. He said that the Narendra Modi government has done the work of connecting youth with the development of Kashmir by making him a tourist guide instead of a terrorist standing with a gun.
The Union Home Minister said that if country’s borders are not secure, the country cannot remain safe because security of border is national security. We have worked to ensure the security of the borders through border security, border-to-border and people-to-people connectivity, and multidimensional and integrated policies. He said that under the Vibrant Village Programme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has instilled confidence in the people by calling the village, which was considered to be the last village of the country, the first village of the country. In the last two years, work has been done to achieve 100 percent saturation of 300 government schemes in 6,000 border villages.
Shri Amit Shah said that on the one hand, the Modi government has curbed terrorism by adopting a zero-tolerance policy against it; on the other hand, it has made several legal changes to create a strong judicial system. He said that comprehensive and meaningful changes in anti-terrorism law like UAPA has brought a huge change. From the time of independence until 2014, India had no policy for internal and external security, and even if there was one, it was buried under the burden of India’s foreign policy. The Home Minister said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, our foreign policy has also become clear. We want to maintain friendship with the whole world, but we will not compromise with the security of the country and its citizens. Shri Shah said that 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.
The Union Home Minister said that after the implementation of the three new criminal laws brought by Modi ji, no case will last more than 3 years and India’s criminal justice system will become the most modern criminal justice system in the world.
