Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to interact with Indian armed forces at Siachen glacier today

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be visiting Siachen tomorrow and interacting with the armed forces there on Monday.

"Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh will visit Siachen tomorrow. He will interact with the Armed Forces personnel deployed in the region," the Defence Ministry Office posted on X.

The Defence Minister had recently celebrated Holi with the armed forces at Leh Military station on March 24.

Earlier, he was scheduled to celebrate the occasion with troops in Siachen, but due to 'inclement weather', the programme was changed to Leh.

He spoke to the Commanding Officer deployed at Siachen on the phone and promised to visit them as soon as possible and is making the visit to fulfill his promise, according to sources.

During his visit, Rajnath Singh will also lay wreath at the Martyr's Memorial.

Meanwhile, the Defence Minister carried out a whirlwind campaign during the first phase of ongoing Lok Sabha elections. He held 26 public meetings and three road shows across 12 states.

The Defence Minister recently responded to China's renaming of 30 places in Arunachal Pradesh and strongly asserted that India wants to maintain good relations with its neighbours but if someone tries to hurt the country's honour then today India has the power to respond to it.

"China has changed the names of 30 places in Arunachal Pradesh and posted on its website. I want to tell my neighbour that nothing is going to happen by changing the names. If tomorrow we change the names of some provinces and some States of China, so by doing that will those areas become a part of India? Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to say that friends change in life but neighbours do not change," he said at a rally in Arunchal Pradesh.

"India's thinking is that we want to maintain good relations with all our neighbours but if someone tries to hurt India's honour, then today India has the power to respond to it," Rajnath Singh added.

The Defence Minister strongly raised the issue of not developing the border infrastructure and attacked the Congress party for being "scared" of the enemy.

Addressing a public meeting in Madhya Pradesh's Satna, he said, "Congress did not carry out development work in border villages and areas because they were scared of the enemy that it could exploit the new roads to enter into the country but China kept developing its border infrastructure."

Rajnath Singh served as the Home Minister in the BJP government's first tenure and as the Defence Minister in the second tenure. He is contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Lucknow constituency, a seat from which he has been winning for the last two terms.

The 2024 general elections is being held in India in seven phases to elect the 543 members of the 18th Lok Sabha. The first phase concluded on April 19, while the next set of polling will happen on April 26. The results will be announced on June 4.