Rajnath chairs vessel commissioning at Vizag Naval dockyard, says zero-tolerance policy on piracy

Visakhapatnam: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that maritime piracy and smuggling will not be tolerated under any circumstances, describing it as the pledge of New India.

Commissioning the survey vessel INS Sandhayak into the Indian Navy at the Naval Dockyard in Vizag city on Saturday, Rajnath Singh termed the Indian Ocean as a hotspot for global trade. Many choke points like the Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Guinea are present in the Indian Ocean, through which a large amount of international trade takes place.

“Many threats remain at these choke points, the biggest being from pirates,” he said, referring to the hijack attempts on merchant vessels in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Navy’s courage and promptness to rescue the ships from the pirates.

During the commissioning of INS Imphal recently, Rajnath Singh had said that India will find those involved in nefarious activities from the depths of the oceans and take strict action against them.

Rajnath praises Indian Navy’s courage, bravery

He praised the Indian Navy for averting five piracy attempts and assisting ships attacked by drones and missiles in the last few days, in addition to rescuing 80 fishermen/marines.

The Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean region is facilitating safe trade while ensuring peace and prosperity. Many defence experts are calling this the rise of a superpower. It is our culture to protect everyone, he added.

Importance of maintaining order in trade

He iterated India’s stand of maintaining freedom of navigation, trade and commerce among different countries.

“The purpose of our growing power is to ensure a rules-based world order. We aim to stop illegal and unregulated fishing in the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, he pointed out.

The defence minister termed the commissioning of INS Sandhayak as historic, exuding confidence that INS Sandhayak will further strengthen India’s role as a superpower in the Indo-Pacific region and help the Indian Navy in maintaining peace and security.

Launching state-of-the-art warfare

Speaking on the occasion, Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar stated that the SVL project highlights the growing importance attached by the government and the Navy to the quintessential prerequisite to operating at sea - a survey of the unfathomable depths of the oceans.

He added that to leverage the flexibility to undertake a diverse range of roles and tasks, the Navy has been launching state-of-the-art platforms indigenously.

“Be it the mighty aircraft carrier Vikrant, the deadly destroyers of Visakhapatnam Class, the versatile Nilgiri class Frigates, the stealthy Kalvari class submarines, the nimble Shallow Water ASW Craft or the specialised Diving Support Vessels - we are carefully crafting a balanced ‘Aatmanirbhar’ force in service of an ascendant Bharat,” he said.