Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always celebrated Diwali in a special way since 2014. This year would be no different as PM Modi is expected to travel to Kashmir today and join the Indian soldiers, nearly 24 hours after returning home from a hectic tour of Rome and Glasgow.
In 2014 – during what was his first Diwali celebration as Prime Minister – Modi paid a surprise visit to the soldiers posted in Siachen at a height of over 12,000 feet.
Addressing the officers and jawans of the Indian armed forces at the Siachen base camp, he praised their valour and courage, saying that 125 crore Indians could celebrate Diwali and go about their lives in comfort because of the jawans who stood guard at the borders.
PM Modi said he is privileged that his first Diwali as Prime Minister was spent with the jawans of Siachen and with those affected by the floods in Srinagar.
On the next Diwali, the PM visited three memorials in Punjab – the Dograi War Memorial, the Barki War Memorial and Asal Uttar – which commemorate some of the spectacular successes of the Indian Armed Forces in the 1965 war. The PM greeted and interacted with officers and jawans of the Indian Army at the Halwara Air Force Station.
In 2016, the Prime Minister visited Sumdo near the India-China border, in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, to celebrate Diwali with the jawans. He interacted with jawans from the ITBP and the Indian Army, and offered sweets to them. Addressing the jawans, Modi said he had been visiting armed forces personnel every year on Diwali since 2001.
In 2017, the Prime Minister celebrated Diwali with the jawans of Indian Army and BSF in the Gurez Valley, near the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing the jawans, the PM said that like everyone else, he too wishes to spend Diwali with his family. Therefore, he said, he had come among the jawans of the armed forces, whom he considers to be "his family".
The Prime Minister celebrated Diwali with jawans of the Indian Army and ITBP at Harsil in Uttarakhand in 2018 before offering prayers at the historic Kedarnath temple. He said that just like Diwali – the festival of lights – the jawans too, through their commitment and discipline, are helping to spread the sense of security and fearlessness among the people. PM Modi not only offered sweets to the jawans but also interacted with people from nearby areas who had gathered to greet him on Diwali.
In continuation of the tradition he set in his first tenure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the festival of Diwali with soldiers of the Indian Army at the Line of Control in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on October 27, 2019. Later, the PM also visited the Pathankot airbase to meet the air warriors of the Indian Air Force .
#Diwali is sweeter when celebrated with our brave soldiers. pic.twitter.com/skO2SfcwJ3
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) October 27, 2019
In 2020, PM Narendra Modi addressed the soldiers at the Indian border post of Longewala on Diwali, saying that his Diwali is complete only when he is with the soldiers whether in the snow-clad mountains or in the desert.
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