Picture : Twitter / ANI
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said had India possessed Rafale fighter jets earlier the IAF would not have needed to enter Balakot in Pakistan to hit the terror camps.
Singh defended performing ‘shastra puja’ while taking delivery of the first Rafale jet in France recently.
“Had we possessed Rafale fighter jets we would not have required to enter Balakot and launch a strike. We could have struck at Balakot while sitting in India,” he said.
Singh reiterated that the fighter planes were meant only for self-defence and not for aggression.
On a controversy surrounding the “shastra puja”, Singh said, “I wrote ‘Om’ on the plane, broke a coconut (as per tradition). Om depicts never-ending Universe”.
“I acted as per my faith. Even other communities like the Christian, Muslim, Sikh etc worship with words like Amen, Omkar etc. Even when I was performing ‘shastra puja’, people from communities like Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists were present at the event,” he said.
