‘There Are Powers That Want To Spoil India’s Relations With Nepal’: Rajnath Singh In Veiled Attack On China

“As a government representative, I want to tell you that if we need to bow our head, we will do it but we won't let our relations break with our neighbour Nepal,” he added.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. (File Photo)

New Delhi: Taking a dig at China, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said there are powers that want to spoil India’s relations with Nepal and assured New Delhi’s continued support to Kathmandu.

“There are powers that want to spoil India's relation with Nepal,” Singh said in a veiled attack on China at a gathering in Uttarakhand capital Dehradun, ANI reported.

“As a government representative, I want to tell you that if we need to bow our head, we will do it but we won't let our relations break with our neighbour Nepal,” he added.

The remarks come as China has of late been helping Nepal with regard to fertilizer supply.

As close neighbours, India and Nepal share unique ties of friendship and cooperation characterized by an open border and deep-rooted people-to-people contacts of kinship and culture.

The Defence Minister, who was addressing the grand finale of ‘Sainik Samman Yatra’ organised by the Uttarakhand Sainik Kalyan Mantralay, also remembered the bravehearts of the hill state.

Singh said Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat’s death is a great loss to the nation.

“General Rawat may not be in this world today, but he will always be alive in the hearts of the people,” he added.

The Defence Minister further said Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government fulfilled the long-pending demand of ‘One Rank, One Pension’.

“We had said that ex-servicemen will get their right of ‘One Rank, One Pension’. You all know that we implemented ‘One Rank, One Pension’ after the formation of our government,” he said asserting the ruling dispensation is committed for the honour and welfare of the soldiers.