Modi doesn't believe in attacking from back: PM on Balakot airstrikes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he "doesn't believe in attacking from the back" and he had first informed the Pakistani authorities about the airstrike on a terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan.

Addressing a rally in Bagalkote in Karnataka on Monday, he said, "I had asked the forces to call the media and inform them about the airstrikes only after I informed the Pakistani authorities about it. But they didn't pick up my call, so I asked the forces to wait. I informed everyone else about the airstrikes only after they picked up the phone and I informed them. Modi doesn't believe in hiding things nor attacking from the back, he fights openly."

PM Modi further said that people who had lost elections and were thinking that they may lose were using technology to make fake videos.

"They have misused artificial intelligence and put out wrong things in my voice on social media, which is creating a big threat," he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

He appealed to the people to inform the police or BJP workers about any such videos and said that legal action would be taken against the accused.

"It's your vote that will strengthen Modi and then the country will become the third-largest economy in the world. It's our resolution to make India a manufacturing hub and a skill centre. These resolutions can't be fulfilled by those who enjoy vacations," he said.

He claimed that the Congress government in Karnataka had turned Bengaluru from tech hub into a "tanker hub" by aiding "tanker mafia over the water crisis". He was quoted by news agency PTI as claiming that the 'tanker mafia' paid "commission" to the Congress.

BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, BJP candidates and MPs from Bagalkote and Vijayapura, P C Gaddigoudar and Ramesh Jigajinagi, were among those present at the rally.

(With inputs from PTI)

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