PM Modi celebrates Diwali with Soldiers - ’His Family’ - in Kashmir

Mangalore Today News Network

Jammu and Kashmir, Oct 19, 2017: Like every year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is spending Diwali with soldiers - this time at Gurez in Jammu and Kashmir. The army said the Prime Minister has already reached Gurez -- a picturesque valley along the Line of Control in Bandipora district - where soldiers of the 15 Corps are stationed.

 

Army chief General Bipin Rawat and other senior officers are accompanying him, reported news agency Press Trust of India quoting an Army official.

This would be his second visit to Kashmir on Diwali. The first time was in 2014, months after the BJP-led government came to power in the Centre. He had spent the day at Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield and announced a Rs. 570 crore package for Jammu and Kashmir, which had been hit by the worst floods in 100 years a month before.

 

"You make it possible for 125 crore Indians to celebrate Diwali happily. Your dreams and responsibilities are the responsibility of us all. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with you," he had told the soldiers.

In 2015, he celebrated it at the India-Pakistan border in Punjab.

Last year, he spent Diwali at the border posts in Himachal Pradesh. "They say you should celebrate Diwali with your people and that’s why I have come here," he had told the Indo-Tibetan Border Police or ITBP personnel at the Sumdo forward post in Kinnaur, close to the border with China.

Courtesy: NDTV