Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said India was ready to cross the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan to maintain its honour and dignity and called upon civilians to be ready to support the soldiers in such a situation, prompting a veteran to draw a contrast with the government’s silence on China.

“We can go to any extreme to maintain the honour and dignity of the country... if that includes crossing the LoC, we are ready to do that... if we are instigated and if the needarises, we will cross the LoC,” he said.

The minister was at the Kargil War memorial in Dras of Ladakh to mark the 24th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Divas, which marks India’s victory over Pakistan in 1999.

Rajnath said the government was fully committed to safeguarding national interests, no matter the challenge.

“No compromise will be made in protecting the sovereignty, unity and integrity of the country. We have given a free hand to the armed forces to eliminate the nation’s enemies. India is a peace-loving nation that believes in its centuries-old values and is committed to international laws,” he added.

“I want to discuss an important point about this (Ukraine) war. When the war started most of Ukraine’s army was destroyed and the Russian army also suffered. If the war is still continuing it is because its people are heavily participating in it,” Rajnath said.

“In other words, people are in large numbers getting trained to participate in the war.”

“The way the wars are dragging on in recent times, people in coming times should be ready to take part in war, not only indirectly but also directly. I believe the people should be mentally ready for that,” he added.

Rajnath said the Kargil war was imposed on India. “The Kargil war was imposed on India. At that time, India had tried to solve the issues with Pakistan through talks... we were backstabbed by Pakistan,” he said.

A former lieutenant general wondered why such words of bravado from the government go missing when it comes to the China frontier. “It has been over three years since the Chinese transgression along the LAC in eastern Ladakh but such words of bravado have been missing from the government. On the contrary, the government has so far denied the transgression,” the retired veteran told The Telegraph.

The Chinese, he said, are estimated to have taken over close to 2,000sqkm of India-claimed territory in eastern Ladakh since May 2020. So far, there has been “partial” Chinese disengagement from the Galwan Valley, Pangong Lake, Hot Springs and Gogra, but at the price of Indian troops retreating inside Indian territory by an equal distance to create demilitarised “buffer zones”.

Additional reporting byMuzaffar Raina in Srinagar