He was accorded a warm welcome by a large crowd of BJP supporters, who anxiously waited to congratulate him for his decision to strike down Naga militants.
Parrikar had ordered a surgical strike inside Myanmar, which was carried out by a crack team of around 70 Indian Army commandos. The operation ended in 40 minutes, leaving 38 Naga insurgents dead and seven injured.
Speaking to reporters, Parrikar said, “The killing of 18 soldiers was an offense as those soldiers were not in a combat exercise, but were moving administratively. It was our duty to reply to such an attack, which otherwise cannot be tolerated.”
When asked whether similar steps would be taken in the future, Parrikar replied, “I will not talk about other situations, but this case had happened in the eastern borders, so we decided to initiate action Also, it is very much required for national security that we take such actions, but it depends on the time and nature of the threat. However, if someone tries to create problems for India, we should not keep quiet. That is common sense; it should not be spoken, and thus, the army did its job.”
