NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narenrdra Modi on Tuesday reached out to the people of Nepal through his monthly radio programme 'Mann ki Baat', assuring them of all possible help from India.
"For 125 crore Indians, Nepal is their own country and India will make all efforts to wipe the tears of every person in Nepal, hold their hands and stand with them," he said in the programme, a large part of which he devoted to talking about the recent calamities, including the storm in Bihar and crisis in war-torn Yemen.
Modi said teams of experts and sniffer dogs have been despatched to Nepal and the focus will be on rescuing people stuck under debris.
He said Indian government's relief and rehabilitation work after the rescue operations would go on for a long time. "I have myself seen the January 2001 earthquake devastation in Kutch of Gujarat from close quarters. I understand the pain of the people of Nepal."
Asserting that a defining feature of Indian traditions is 'seva parmo dharma' (service is prime duty), Modi said the Indian Army rescued thousands of people belonging to different nationalities stuck in Yemen in the last few weeks.
"Whole world has applauded our rescue operations. We have evacuated citizens from 48 other nations."
He said that during his recent visit to France, he made it a point to visit the memorial dedicated to the martyrs of the first world war. "I paid tributes to several Indian soldiers who had laid down their lives in the war. Their sacrifices should never be forgotten."
Recalling the focal point of his pet project Swachh Bharat which envisages an end to manual scavenging by 2019, Modi said his government was determined to end it.
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