None on other side would have survived if we had Rafale: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the defence situation in the country would have been different if the Indian Air Force had Rafale fighter jets. "Not one this side would have gone and no one on the other would have survived," he added.

Addressing a rally here, the prime minister called upon the Opposition, without naming it, to use "common sense" when it speaks about the Rafale jets.

"If the Indian Air Force had the Rafale today, the situation would have been different, but some people do not have it in them to understand this," Modi said, adding "When I say this, they question the Air Force strikes."

The prime minister, who is on a two-day visit to his home state, went on, "The nation agrees that the disease of terrorism has to be eliminated. I want to ask you, don't you trust what our armed forces say?

"Should or should not everyone, including me, believe in our armed forces without raising questions? We should be proud of our armed forces."

Modi was addressing the rally after inaugurating a 750-bed annexe and PG hostel of the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital here.

He also laid the foundation stones of various development projects in the Saurashtra region.

The prime minister will reach Ahmedabad later in the day to inaugurate the first phase of the six-km-long Metro rail service.

He will also lay the foundation stone of the Patidar community's Umiya Mata Temple Complex in the city.

--IANS

desai/rtp/bg