PM to celebrate Diwali with ITBP men along China border

Keeping with his practice, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will celebrate this Diwali with Indo Tibetan Border Police Force personnel at one of the remotest border posts in Uttarakhand.

Modi, who as prime minister had celebrated his first Diwali in 2014 with army in Siachen and second one on the Punjab border with Pakistan, will spend time on the border with China on the upcoming festival of lights on Sunday.

He will celebrate the festival with ITBP personnel at Mana, the last village on Indian territory along the border with China, official sources said on Friday.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval will accompany the prime minister on his trip to Mana, located at an altitude of about 10,000 feet, the sources said.

Modi is also expected to visit Badrinath, one of the holiest temples of Hindus, which is located nearby, they said.

In run up to Diwali, the prime minister had urged people to send their good wishes to security forces personnel on Diwali, saying such messages will boost their morale.

A campaign in social media with the tagline -- #Sandesh2Soldiers -- through which people can send their Diwali greetings and messages to soldiers guarding the nation's frontiers is already underway.

People are sending messages under the #Sandesh2Soldiers campaign on the Narendra Modi App, through MyGov.in, and also through All India Radio.

According to the PMO, over 10 lakh messages have come -- 7 lakh on Facebook, Twitter and MyGov and about 3 lakh on Narendra Modi App.

Prominent people who have sent their wishes include chief ministers, Union Ministers, film stars, cricketers and other sportspersons.

They include Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Virat Kohli, Virendra Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Sakshi Malik.

The initiative comes against the backdrop of surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Army on terror launch pads in the Pakistan-occcupied Kashmir on September 29 and the heightened tension along the Indo-Pak border.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with soldiers at the Dograi War Memorial, in Khasa, Amritsar, Punjab in 2015. Photograph: Press Information Bureau