Doklam standoff: India has made clear it won't get cowed down, says Bhagwat

Mohan Bhagwat was addressing event organised in memory of Lal Bahadur Shastri

India has made clear that it will not be cowed down on security and defence matters, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Tuesday as credited the Modi government for enhancing the country's global standing.

Bhagwat's comments come in the backdrop of India and China mutually resolving the recent Dokalam stand-off.

"It has been demonstrated clearly that the nation is no longer ready to be cowed down in matters relating to defence and security," the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief said.

The RSS 'Sarsanghchalak' was addressing an event organised in the memory of Lal Bahadur Shastri at a college named after the late Prime Minister in Manda, about 65 kms from here.

Bhagwat also lauded the Modi government's 'Swachh Bharat' initiative and "India's higher international standing".

The policies of our government have led to India's higher international standing, he said. People all over the world have started looking up to us, he added.

Referring to the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyan', Bhagwat compared Modi's ability to mobilise public support with that of Shastri during the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

"We have seen what an inspiring leadership can achieve. In the past, the entire nation had taken to observing a fast on Mondays. Today, once again, the entire nation is making efforts to make the country clean," Bhagwat said.

Besides the RSS chief, others present on the occasion were Shastri's maternal grandson and Uttar Pradesh health minister Siddharth Nath Singh, the late prime minister's sons Anil Shastri and Sunil Shastri, who are respectively with the Congress and the BJP, and former city Congress chief and Mayor Chaudhary Jitendra Nath Singh.