Modi praises Gujarat Police

RAJKOT - Chief Minister Narendra Modi Sunday lavishly praised the Gujarat Police, saying it had helped to crush terrorism in the state and beyond.

In his Independence Day address here, Modi said the Gujarat policemen had maintained peace in the state while terrorism and Maoism had laid siege to the nation.

The “brave officers and men of the Gujarat Police have done the country proud” by smashing the terrorist network blamed for the 2008 bomb attacks in the state, he said.

“They deserve special praise. Spending endless nights and days, the dedicated police of the state has sent 400 terrorists behind bars and in the process created an atmosphere of peace and tranquility in the state,” he added.

Modi said terrorists had a free run in the country until the Gujarat Police cracked down on them after the Ahmedabad serial bombings, helping to break up their countrywide network.

“After the determined action of Gujarat’s brave policemen, the incidents of terrorist strikes in the country is on the wane,” he said.

“Now, come Rathyatra or Mohorrum, there has not been a single incident on any festival. It is the peace and communal amity that has largely contributed to the rapid development in the state,” he added.

Modi’s comments follow charges of fake gun battles hurled at the state police that has led to the arrest of its disgraced former home minister Amit Shah.