 "Let’s fight poverty ... bullet or terror: 5 times PM Modi gave a direct message to Pak people")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent remarks on Pakistan have not only reached its leadership but also reverberated among the common people of the country.
Through his speeches, the Indian prime minister has time and again addressed the Pakistani population directly, giving them a reality check about the situation of their country and motivating the youth to speak out against state-sponsored terrorism.
PM Modi’s relationship, however, has not been this sour with Pakistan. It began on a positive note with PM Modi inviting Nawaz Sharif, among other heads of state, for his first swearing-in in May 2014. He also made an unplanned stopover in Lahore on the way home from Afghanistan in December 2015.
The 2016 and 2019 terror attacks were a turning point when the prime minister started to call out Pakistan’s backing for terrorism publicly. Here are all the instances when PM Modi gave a direct message to Pakistanis from the comfort of his home ground, India.
2025
During a public meeting in Gujarat’s Kutch yesterday, PM Modi said, “I want to ask the people of Pakistan, ‘What have you achieved? India has become the fourth largest economy in the world. What is your condition? Who ruined the future of your children? The perpetrators of terrorism, the Pakistani army, have their own agenda. Your govt and your army are supporting terrorism.’ It has become their means of income. The youth and children of Pakistan have to decide whether they are on the right track.”
“To free Pakistan from terrorism, its people, its youth need to come forward. They can choose to lead a peaceful life; else, my bullet is there against terror,” he added.
In a podcast with Lex Fridman in March this year, PM Modi said, “I believe even the people of Pakistan long for peace because even they must be weary of living in strife and unrest, they must have grown weary of relentless terror where even innocent children are killed and countless lives are destroyed.
2024
Last year in May, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said that India should “respect” Pakistan as it yields nuclear weapons. Replying to his controversial comments, PM Modi said, “I have personally visited Lahore to check how powerful it is,” seemingly referring to his 2015 trip to Lahore.
2021
That year, PM Modi wrote a letter to former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and although it was not a direct communication to the citizens of the country, the letter proposed steps for good ties between the two nations.
“As a neighbouring country, India desires cordial relations with the people of Pakistan. For this, an environment of trust, devoid of terror and hostility, is imperative,” he said in the letter.
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This was the year when India conducted the Uri surgical strikes to avenge the deaths of Indian soldiers at an Army base. Talking directly to Pakistani people, PM Modi told them to ask their rulers why Pakistan was exporting terrorism at a time when India was exporting software.
“I want to say that India is a ready for a war… India is a ready for a war on poverty. Let both countries fight to see who would eradicate poverty first… I want to tell the youth of Pakistan, let’s have a war on ending unemployment… I want to call out to the children in Pakistan, let’s declare war on illiteracy. Let’s see who wins. Let’s declare war on infant mortality and maternal deaths,” he further said.
In the same year, PM Modi addressed India on the occasion of Independence Day but his message was also directed at the people of Balochistan. He said, “People of Balochistan,Gilgit and PoK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) have thanked me a lot in past few days, I am grateful to them,” referring to one of his earlier remarks against the Pakistani government for the atrocities against the community.
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