Putin awed by India’s military might [View All]

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new delhi • With Russian President Vladimir Putin as the chief guest, India yesterday showcased the cutting edge Russian weaponry in its arsenal as it celebrated its 58th Republic Day with a grand parade that seamlessly blended military might with an impressive display of cultural diversity.

A tight security blanket was thrown over the capital as Putin, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President A P J Abdul Kalam, in a bullet-proof enclosure, watched the display of military pomp, and technological prowess.

In a Republic Day message, Kalam said he was confident India with its booming economy would become a developed nation before 2020 with no poverty and 100 per cent literacy. “I visualise even before the year 2020 that a prosperous India is possible,” he said. Singh saluted Putin as a “special friend of India”. Russia “remains indispensable to the core of India’s foreign policy interests” though there has been a sea-change in the international situation during the last decade, Singh said.

It had the desired effect as Putin repeatedly nodded his head as the jointly developed BrahMos supersonic cruise missile and the T-72 main battle tanks that have been purchased from Russia rolled down Rajpath during the two-hour parade.

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The parade, commanded by Maj Gen P C Bhardwaj, featured a vast array of indigenously developed equipment like missiles, radars for locating hostile weapons and aircraft, bridge-laying tanks, a battlefield communication system based on cellular technology, a mobile decontamination facility for a nuclear, chemical and biological (NBC) environment, and an infantry combat vehicle (ICV).

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