9 Years, 1 Tradition: PM Modi's Diwali at the Borders with Army Jawans Since 2014 | A Timeline

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday landed in Kargil to spend Diwali with the soldiers, a tradition he has been continuing since 2014. The PMO said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has landed in Kargil, where he will celebrate Diwali with our brave soldiers.”

Earlier on Sunday, PM Modi visited Ayodhya, where a record 15.76 lakh earthen lamps were arranged at Ram ki Paidi on River Saryu bank. Earlier in the week, Modi offered prayers at the Kedarnath and Badrinath shrines in Uttarakhand.

The PM has celebrated Diwali with soldiers every year to bring some joy to the lives of the armed forces personnel posted at some of the remotest security check posts.

In continuation with the tradition, the prime minister celebrated the Festival of Light in Jammu’s Nowshera last year in November with soldiers. He paid tributes to soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty, at Nowshera along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Rajouri district.

“I feel privileged that I got to spend Diwali with our brave soldiers in Nowshera, not as Prime Minister but as a member of their family,” he said in a tweet.

In 2020, he spent Diwali with soldiers at Longewala in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer. “Diwali is a festival we celebrate with family, and with those, we call our own… so each year I spend time with you all because you all are my own, my family. I bring sweets for you all today. But these are not just from me. It is from all 130 crore Indians,” Modi said.

In 2019, the year he won the second term as PM, Modi celebrated the festival with troops deployed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri. The PM’s visit came just a few hours after Pakistani army had targeted forwarded posts in the district.

In 2018, he had halted at the Harsil station to spend time with ITBP jawans and exchanged Diwali wishes while returning from Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand.

Similarly in 2017, he visited Gurez sector of north Kashmir along the Line of Control where he spent almost two hours celebrating the festival with troops posted in the forward area.

In 2016, he celebrated it with armed forces in a remote and strategic area in Himachal Pradesh, adjoining the Chinese border.

In 2015, PM Modi military installations associated with the 1965 Indo-Pak war in Punjab where he praised their “valour and character”.

In 2014, the year he was elected, the Prime Minister started his Diwali day with soldiers in Siachen, which is the world’s highest battlefield, to boost the morale of the troops guarding the icy peaks. In his address, the PM praised their valour and courage of the soldiers.

He was also the first prime minister to visit Siachen in almost 10 years.

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