NEW DELHI: Indian soldiers have given befitting reply to those who challenged the country's sovereignty "from LoC to LAC", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, in a subtle message to Pakistan and China.
In his seventh straight Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort, the prime minister said the country is fighting terrorism as well as expansionism with determination.
Asserting that the respect for India's sovereignty is supreme and that the world has seen in Ladakh what India's brave jawans can do to maintain this resolve, Modi said,"I salute all those brave soldiers from the Red Fort."
"From LoC to LAC, anyone who casts an eye on the sovereignty of the country, the armed forces of the country have responded in the language they understand," Modi said, adding the whole country is united in protecting the sovereignty of the country.
The prime minister's comments came in the midst of India's festering border row with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and rising incidents of ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan.
Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in a violent clash with Chinese armies in Galwan Valley.
The Chinese side also suffered casualties but it is yet to give out the details.
The expansion of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) has been ensured in 173 border and coastal districts and nearly one lakh new cadets will get special traning under the mission, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday.
One-third of the one lakh new cadets will be girls, the prime minister said in his Independence Day speech.
"Now, expansion of the NCC has been ensured in 173 border and coastal districts. Under this mission, one lakh NCC cadets will receive special training. Of this, one-third will be girls," Modi told the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort.
(With PTI Inputs)