Mahabharata metaphor for India's ‘missile shield' in Modi address
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday vowed to provide a 'complete shield of protection' to the nation's most vital locations, from strategic installations to civilian spaces such as hospitals and faith centres, by 2035. Drawing from the epic Mahabharata, he invoked Lord Krishna's divine discus to announce the Sudarshan Chakra Mission, a sweeping initiative aimed at strengthening India's security architecture.
'During the war of the Mahabharat, Lord Krishna's Sudarshan Chakra obstructed the sunlight helped Arjuna to fulfil his oath to kill Jayadratha. Drawing inspiration from that, the country will now launch Sudarshan Chakra Mission,' PM Modi declared in his Independence Day address.
Modi said the mission would fuse advanced surveillance, interception and counter-attack capabilities to swiftly neutralise threats. 'It will have a system which will function a step ahead of all possible attacks in the future,' he said, adding that the entire programme, from research and development to manufacturing, would be fully indigenous.
According to Modi, the mission will also focus on developing a system for targeted and precise action, integrating cutting-edge technologies to create a powerful, multi-layered defence shield around critical points across the country.
This 'complete security' push can be drawn parallels between the upcoming system and Israel's famed Iron Dome, the multi-layered defence network credited with intercepting thousands of rockets from Hamas and Hezbollah since its deployment in the 2010s.
India already has a Integrated Air Command and Control System that acted as a shield against Pakistan's missiles during Operation Sindoor.
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Dear Express Reader, The week of the 79th Independence Day ended with a press conference by the Election Commission of India that was both welcome and unsettling. On the face of it, the EC sought to address questions raised by the Special Intensive Revision exercise ahead of the election in Bihar — and even though Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar did not take Rahul Gandhi's name, on Gandhi's allegations of 'vote chori'. That the EC sought to address questions swirling around it, when its conduct of the exercise in Bihar has raised serious apprehensions of large-scale disenfranchisement, was reassuring. But its tone and tenor has raised more questions. 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