Lucknow, May 29: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said a total of 619 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir had been killed in gun battles with security forces as he highlighted the all-round improvement in internal and external security under the Narendra Modi government.

He also clarified that the operations against militants had not been stopped during the holy month of Ramadan but had just been suspended. "It is not ceasefire but a temporary suspension of operations," he said, adding that the army is free to respond to any terrorist attack.

Addressing media persons here, the senior BJP leader said the number of terrorists killed in the previous UPA-II government was 471.

"There has been no compromise on the unity and integrity of the nation and we are proactively pursuing operations against the terrorist groups and subversive elements," Singh added, but did not respond to a query on how many security personnel were killed in this period.

He however said that respecting the supreme sacrifice of the security personnel in the line of duty for the nation, the Union Government had scaled uo the ex-gratia sum from Rs 50 lakh to Rs one crore for their families. 

Rajnath Singh also said that incursions had also decreased during the four years of the Modi government and it had come down by 85 per cent in the northeast.

Compared to a high of 2,418 Maoist incidents under the UPA regime, only 1,481 incidents have taken place in the NDA rule, he said. "In 2013, Maoists were active in 76 districts but there area of influence and operations has shrunk to 58 districts in the last four years," he added.

He also said that to secure the country's boundaries, a new border security system was being started under which LED lights would be installed along with new technique radars on the borders. 

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Ranipet (Tamil Nadu) (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was being "controlled" by US President Donald Trump and that the PM wanted the AIADMK to capture power so that he could control Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

Also, he claimed that the prime minister "handed out our energy security and gave away our data, besides selling our farmers and small and medium industries."

"You saw yesterday (in Parliament) the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi completely lacking confidence," Rahul said on the delimitation bill.

"He (PM) could not even face the opposition. He was sitting sideways. And the reason is, he is controlled by the United States. He signed the India-US deal that sold our country out," Rahul said while addressing an election rally here.

He further said, "Today, if Donald Trump tells Modi to jump, Modi jumps. If Donald Trump tells Modi to lie down, Modi lies down. Why? Because Donald Trump controls Modi fully. How does he control him? He controls through the Epstein files. He controls him because he knows Modi's financial systems and understands Modi's link with Adani," the Congress leader alleged.

Just as he was being controlled by Trump, Modi wanted to do the same to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. "That is why he wants to put AIADMK in power in TN," Rahul said.

The Union government had rejected references to PM Modi in the latest Jeffrey Epstein case files, describing it as “little more than trashy ruminations by a convicted criminal that deserves to be dismissed with the utmost contempt”.