"National Security Our Priority": PM After War Memorial Visit Before Oath

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visited the National War Memorial this morning, before he takes oath for a second term in office this evening, paid his tribute to soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty.

"India is proud of all those brave men and women martyred in the line of duty. Paid tributes to our brave soldiers at the Rashtriya Samar Smarak. Our Government will leave no stone unturned to safeguard India's unity and integrity. National security is our priority," PM Modi tweeted.

PM Modi started his day early, with a series of visits. He first visited the memorials of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat and then paid tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his memorial Sadaiv Atal Samadhi.

India is proud of all those brave men and women martyred in the line of duty.

Paid tributes to our brave soldiers at the Rashtriya Samar Smarak.

Our Government will leave no stone unturned to safeguard India's unity and integrity. National security is our priority. pic.twitter.com/jMR2tGOJDH

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 30, 2019

At the war memorial near India Gate in central Delhi, PM Modi was accompanied by outgoing Defence Minister and BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman, along with Army Chief General. Bipin Rawat, Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba and Vice Chief of Air Force Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria.

PM Modi briefly stood in silence to paid tributes to the fallen soldiers.

He had inaugurated the memorial in the heart of the capital in February, nearly 60 years after it was mooted to honour the fallen soldiers after Independence.

Spread over an area of nearly 40 acres, the memorial comprises four concentric circles, namely -- the ''Amar Chakra, Veerta Chakra, ''Tyag Chakra'' and the ''Rakshak Chakra'' with names of 25,942 soldiers inscribed in golden letters on granite tablets.

The BJP had built its election campaign around the theme of nationalism and national security since the February 14 suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama that killed over 40 soldiers, and the subsequent air strikes at Pakistan's Balakot.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance returned to power with a massive haul of 352 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP won 303 seats on its own.

PM Modi and his team of ministers will take oath at 7 pm at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.