PM Narendra Modi makes strong pitch for permanent UNSC seat for India

Paris, Apr 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday made a strong pitch for a permanent seat for India in the UN Security Council, saying it should get it as a "right" for its immense contribution to global peace.

"Those days are gone when India had to beg. Now we want our right. No other country has such moral authority," he said while addressing the Indian community here.

"This is an opportunity to recognise a peace-loving nation like India," he said, asking the UN to reconsider its stand on the issue when it celebrates the 70th anniversary.

Buttressing his case, Modi said India has the maximum presence in UN peacekeeping forces. Both during World War I, when 14 lakh Indians went to the battle front, and World War II, the participation of Indians was immense, he stressed.

The world should understand this and change its outlook towards India, he said. India, he noted, has never been an aggressor against any country and firmly believed that the world must be rid of the spectre of war.

"Sometimes, history is forgotten. Those who forget history will lose their right to write one," he said.

The Prime Minister, who spoke in Hindi to an estimated over 2,000-strong gathering, was repeatedly cheered with chants of "Modi, Modi".

Recalling that he had earlier visited France as a tourist, he said, "Now I have come to take tourists from here to India."

PTI