“So recently a pilot project was over. Now the real one has to be done. Earlier one was a practice.”
PM Narendra Modi addresses scientists at the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Awards in Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday. (Photo: PIB)
In an apparent reference to India’s air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said a “pilot project”, which was a “practice” just got over, and the “real project” was yet to happen.
Addressing scientists at the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Awards in Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi, Modi said: “You are the people who spend life in laboratories. You have a tradition of first doing a pilot project. Later it is scaled up. So recently a pilot project was over. Now the real one has to be done. Earlier one was a practice.”
अभी-अभी एक ‘पायलट प्रोजेक्ट’ पूरा हो गया।
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अभी रियल करना है, पहले तो प्रैक्टिस थी: प्रधानमंत्री श्री @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/Gn8a1JsBgX
— BJP (@BJP4India) February 28, 2019
As the audience burst into loud applause, the PM added: “And the real is to actually give a standing ovation to today’s award winners. We will give a standing ovation.”
The gathering responded and gave a standing ovation to the scientists.
Modi’s remarks came soon after the news broke that Pakistan would release captured Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman on Friday.
The IAF pilot was captured by the Pakistani military on Wednesday after his MiG was shot down and he fell on the other side of the Line of Control during an air combat.
During a joint session of the National Assembly in Islamabad, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said the IAF pilot would be freed “as a gesture of peace”.
India has welcomed the decision.
“We are happy that our pilot who had fallen across the Line of Control (LoC) and was in the custody of Pakistan is being released. We are extremely happy to have him back,’’ Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor, spokesperson for the Indian Air Force (IAF), said at a media briefing.
Asked how India looked at Islamabad’s decision, Kapoor said, “We only see it as a gesture which is consonance with all Geneva Conventions.”
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