 "Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addresses a gathering during the 16th Foundation Day of IIT Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, Monday, February, 24, 2025. (Photo: PTI)")
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said that Pakistani Army chief Asim Munir’s comparison of India and Pakistan as a Ferrari and a dump truck respectively was a confession of a failure as a nation.
Rajnath was referring to Munir’s speech in the United States earlier this month in which he said that Pakistan was a dump truck full of gravel and India was Ferrari and if a Ferrari collided with a gravel-full dump truck, it would be the Ferrari that would be the loser. He also threatened India with missile strikes in the speech.
Recalling Munir’s words, Rajnath said, “India’s economy is like a Mercedes and a Ferrari running on the highway, he said. I am not saying. Pakistan’s economy is like a dump truck full of debris. Now, you people know the answer to this. Now, Asim Munir was trolled a lot for this statement both inside Pakistan and all over the world. Everyone said that if two countries got independence at the same time and one country built a Ferrari-like economy through hard work, right policies, and foresight, and the other is still in a dumper state, then it is their own failure. I consider this statement of Asim Munir as a confession.”
Rajnath further referred to Munir’s nuclear threats and said it showed Pakistan’s “plundering mentality”.
“The Pakistani Army chief knowingly or unknowingly has pointed towards a plundering mentality which Pakistan has been a victim of since its birth…We must break this delusion of the Pakistani Army,” said Rajnath.
Singh further said that India had set a new red line with Operation Sindoor.
Munir’s nuclear threats against India from US soil
Earlier this month, Munir launched into a tirade against India in a speech at a dinner hosted by a businessman in Florida, United States.
Munir said that “we are a nuclear nation, if we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us”, according to The Print.
In a direct threat to India, Munir said, “We will wait for India to build a dam, and when it does so, we will destroy it with 10 missiles…The Indus river is not the Indians’ family property. We have no shortage of missiles, Praise be to God.”
Munir made these remarks at a black-tie dinner hosted by businessman Adnan Asad in Tampa, Florida. He was in the United States to attend the farewell function for General Michael Kurilla, the head of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), who retired recently.
The US Department of State told Firstpost that it was aware of Munir’s speech but referred to the Pakistani government for any comments.
India reacted sharply to Munir’s speech and also indicted the US government for allowing such remarks from its soil against a friendly nation.
“It is also regrettable that these remarks should have been made from the soil of a friendly third country,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
As for Munir’s remarks, the MEA said that nuclear sabre-rattling is Pakistan’s stock-in-trade and proves that Pakistan is hand-in-glove with terrorist groups.
The MEA said, “The international community can draw its own conclusions on the irresponsibility inherent in such remarks, which also reinforce the well-held doubts about the integrity of nuclear command and control in a state where the military is hand-in-glove with terrorist groups.”