Friday, 12 APRIL 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to woo the ex-servicemen voters and families of the armed forces personnel in his speech at IDPL ground in Rishikesh on Thursday. He said that the BJP government fulfilled the demand of One Rank One Pension (OROP) of the armed forces veterans. Taking a dig at the Congress party, the PM said that during the regime of Congress party there was acute shortage of the bullet proof jackets for the soldiers. “It is the BJP government which provided bullet proof jackets made in the country to the soldiers and saved their lives,’’ he said.
Modi said that when the country was ruled by the weak governments the morale of the terrorists was high but we have a strong government which now kills the terrorists by entering their homes. He said that the tricolour has become a guarantee of safety in the war affected areas of the world.
It is worth mentioning here that armed forces veterans and their families constitute an influential vote bank in Uttarakhand. This vote bank has always influenced the outcome in many elections in the past. It is said that in Uttarakhand one person from every household is associated with the armed forces or para military forces. It is believed that there are an estimated 1.80 Lakh armed forces veterans and Veer Naris (widows of armed forces personnel) in the state. Similarly the state is home to about thirty five thousand retired paramilitary forces personnel. An estimated 1.50 lakh personnel belonging to the state are serving in different wings of the armed forces of the country.
