Ahmedabad

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India will make all out efforts to help the people of quake-hit Nepal and wipe their tears in this hour of crisis, giving priority to saving lives of those who might be buried under the debris.

He said a number of rescue teams along with sniffer dogs have been sent to Nepal to save as many lives as they can after the earthquake caused widespread damage in that country yesterday.

“I can feel what Nepal and its people must be going through since I have seen closely the devastation caused by earthquake in Kutch (Gujarat) on January 26, 2001,” Modi said in his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio programme on AIR.

“My dear brothers and sisters of Nepal, India is with you in this hour of grief. … For 125 crore Indians, Nepal is their own country and India will make all efforts to wipe the tears of every person in Nepal, hold their hands and stand with them,” he said in the programme, much of which he devoted to the recent calamities and other human tragedies like storm in Bihar and efforts to rescue Indians from war-torn Yemen.

Observing that help has already started and teams of experts have been sent, he said the priority is to rescue those people who might be still alive under the debris and all efforts will be made to save them. “Our focus will be to rescue as many people alive as possible.”

He said the relief and rehabilitation work after the rescue operations will go on for a long time.

Sharing his pain over a series of natural calamities hitting the region in the recent past including yesterday’s quake in Nepal, Modi said he was anguished and did not feel like going ahead with his radio address today.

“When I spoke to you last month, hailstorms and unseasonal rains had occured, devastating the farmers. A few days ago, a storm hit Bihar killing many people and causing a lot of damage. And now on Saturday, this devastating earthquake has shaken the whole world.

“It seems a series of natural disasters has begun. The quake has also killed many people in different states of India. Property has also been damaged. But the destruction and damage in Nepal is massive,” he said.

While talking about the calamities, the Prime Minister also spoke of war-torn Yemen and highlighted how the Indians along with the nationals of 48 other countries were evacuated safely from there.

“They were evacuated in the midst of firing and bombings.

It was a difficult task but we did it,” he said and hailed the role of External Affairs Ministry, IAF and Navy for carrying out the operation efficiently in a coordinated manner.

He said the world has praised India for this effort and the endeavour has left an indelible imprint.

While hailing the courage of Indians, Modi mentioned that during the World War-I between 1914-1918, 15 lakh Indian soldiers had put their lives at stake by participating in it, “not for themselves or to seize anybody?s land but just to serve”.

74,000 Indian soldiers were martyred and 9,200 were decorated, 11 of them with the highest honour of Victoria Cross, he said and recalled that he paid his homage to them recently when he visited the memorial in France.

“On the basis of such cases, we can tell the world that this country can do anything for world peace, well-being and development, even sacrifice lives. Even in the United Nations, the role of Indians in peacekeeping is mentioned the foremost.This is a matter of pride for us,” the Prime Minister said.

He also expressed pride at the achievements of “two daughters of India” — Saina Nehwal who became the world number one in badminton and Sania Mirza the world topper in doubles tennis.

While congratulating them, Modi also expressed indignation at “some people losing their balance” at the loss of India in the cricket world cup semi-finals, saying: “My countrymen, this is not good. There is no sport in which there is no loss …. If our players lose sometime, then we should keep their morale high in that hour of crisis.”

“We should learn from defeat. I am sure we will take lessons from our defeat in future, won’t lose our balance instantly and get into a blame game,” he said.

Modi said his government would continue to move ahead for the welfare of everybody, whether they be Dalits, down- trodden, the deprived, tribals, villagers, farmers, poor or small traders. He also wished well the students appearing for the board exams.

– PTI