PM Modi on Pulwama: 'I feel the fire raging inside you'; Army given free hand to punish culprits, says Rajnath Singh

"I feel the same fire in my heart that’s raging inside you," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday while referring to the anger and grief in the country after the dastardly Pulwama terror attack. Modi was addressing a public gathering here after laying the foundation stone of multiple development projects in Bihar.

Paying homage to the 40 CRPF personnel who were killed in Thursday's terror strike, he said,"I pay my tributes to braveheart Constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha from Patna and Bhagalpur’s braveheart Ratan Kumar Thakur who sacrificed their lives for the country. I express my sympathies with their families."

Holding that the entire country is angry over the Pulwama terror attack, Modi had yesterday said that “all tears will be avenged” and the armed forces have been given "full freedom to decide the place, time, intensity and nature of the retaliation against the enemy".

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday asserted "the sacrifice made by 40 CRPF jawans in recent Pulwama attack will not go in vain" adding "the army has been given a free hand to punish the perpetrators."

"Pakistan is sponsoring these terrorist organisation. Is it helping the terror outfits to grow as they are scared of India. I assure that we will surely take the revenge," he added.

While addressing the public rally, the Union Home Minister slammed the Congress for not doing enough for the country when they were in power and asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the only the leader who can take India forward.

"For the first time in 2014, after Congress, BJP became the second party to get the majority of seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Earlier, our country had unipolar politics but after Atal Bihari Vajpayee cameto power it became bi-polar," he added.

Rajnath Singh stated, "Earlier India was placed in the category of a poor country but now it is seen as the developing country. This has become possible because of our Prime Minister."

BJP president Amit Shah said Sunday that the sacrifices of the 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama will not go in vain as there is a BJP government at the Centre now and it, unlike the erstwhile Congress dispensation, will not "compromise" on any security issue.

Addressing a public rally organised by the party's youth wing BJYM here, Shah said the gruesome attack was carried out by Pakistan-based terrorists, who would not be spared at any cost.

"This cowardly act was done by Pakistani terrorists. Their (jawans') sacrifices will not go in vain, because there is no Congress government at the Centre. We will not compromise on any security issue," he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the strongest willpower among all world leaders to fight against terrorism, he claimed. 

"Already, replies through diplomatic channels, bullets and surgical strikes were given (to Pakistan). The BJP government gave all sort of replies to Pakistani terrorists," Shah said.

Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Sunday the Narendra Modi government has "broken the backbone" of terrorists as he asserted that the "cowardly" Pulwama terror attack will be avenged.

"National security is most important and there cannot be any compromise on this. Neither can there be any soft posturing. The cowardly act will be avenged," Naqvi told reporters.

"In the more than four-and-half years of the Modi government, the backbone of terrorists has been broken. Since the formation of BJP government at the Centre, barring some places in Kashmir, there have been no terror attack," the Union minister said.