India will hit back with 'double the force' if its sovereignty is challenged: PM
New Delhi, Oct 21: India never eyes anyone else's territory but will hit back with "double the force" if its sovereignty is ever challenged, Prime Minister Modi said Sunday at an event to mark the 75th anniversary of proclamation of the Azad Hind government by Subhas Chandra Bose.
He also said his government is working towards providing the armed fores with better technology and latest weapons even as efforts are underway to make the lives of soldiers easier by extending them with better facilities.
Modi said his government took decisions such as carrying out surgical strikes across the Line of Control and providing benefits of 'one rank, one pension' to ex-servicemen.
The prime minister hoisted the national flag at the historic Red Fort to mark the event.
Donning the cap of the Indian National Army presented to him by one of the close aides of Bose, Modi said it has been the Indian tradition not to eye someone else's territory, "but when our sovereignty is challenged, we will hit back with double the force."
He also cautioned people against forces inside and outside India which are working against the country by targeting it and its constitutional values.
He said a feeling of nationalism and "Indianness" is must to counter such designs.
Referring to the opposition faced by Bose when he decided to establish the Rani Jhansi Regiment -- an all women unit of the INA, Modi said the regiment would complete 75 years of its establishment on Monday.
He said, the present government is trying to fulfil the dreams of Bose even as he recalled the decision to allow women in the Army to opt for permanent commission from short service commission following a transparent procedure.
The prime minister said the air force is set to have the first batch of women fighter pilots.
He said arrears worth Rs 11,000 crore have been released for ex-servicemen under the 'one rank, one pension' (OROP) scheme. OROP, coupled by recommendations of the seventh pay commission, have given "double bonanza" to former servicemen, he said.
Modi also said the work on the National War Memorial is in its last stages.
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Rohit Pawar seeks probe into alleged acts of black magic near Ajit Pawar's residences
Mumbai, Mar 20 (PTI): NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar on Friday demanded a thorough probe into the incidents of black magic allegedly carried out near the residences of late Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar last year, and sought to identify the persons who commissioned these acts.
Ajit Pawar was killed in a plane crash in Baramati on January 28 along with four others.
Citing statements made by party colleague Amol Mitkari on X, Pawar said reports of alleged practices outside Ajit Pawar's residence in Sahyog Society on Bhigwan Road in Pune district and near the Devgiri bungalow in Mumbai, allegedly involving an astrologer from Nashik were "deeply disturbing".
"In a progressive state like Maharashtra, there is no place for superstition or such fraudulent practices. Yet, the information coming to light makes the matter appear extremely serious," he said.
The Karjat-Jamkhed MLA, who is the nephew of the Ajit Pawar, urged authorities to probe the sequence of events and identify those who commissioned these acts along with their political motive.
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In a post on X, MLA Mitkari earlier raised serious questions over alleged black magic rituals conducted in November 2025 in Pune district and sought a detailed probe into the matter.
He claimed that these rituals were purportedly linked to a 'Shivlika Ashram' run by self-proclaimed astrologer Ashokkumar Kharat, whom he described as a "fraudulent godman".
Kharat's VSR connection has come to light, Mitkari said, and questioned why Ajit Pawar flew in a VSR-operated plane on January 28, a day after his road travel to Pune by road on January 27 was fixed.
He asked on whose advice the plane travel made and also sought to know if any close associate of Pawar was a follower of Kharat.
Kharat, a retired Merchant Navy officer and self-proclaimed astrologer, was arrested in Nashik on Wednesday for allegedly raping a woman for over three years. He was remanded in police custody till March 24.
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