A day after the defence ministry widened the search for a new CDS, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was in Vietnam, meeting with his counterpart in Hanoi.
Vietnam is one of India's closest friends in South Asia, and that relationship long precedes different Indian governments in the 21st century.
Indira Gandhi's government was a supporter of the Viet Cong cause during Vietnam's long and bitter war with the United States, and that is probably why Hanoi has an avenue named for her, and not for the Mahatma.
Please click on the images for glimpses of the Raksha Mantri's visit to Vietnam.
IMAGE: Rajnath Singh inspects a guard of honour at the ministry of national defence headquarters along with Vietnam's Minister of National Defence General Phan Van Giang, June 8, 2022.
All photographs: Press Information Bureau
IMAGE: General Giang, who was born in November 1960, is too young to have fought in the Vietnam War, which ended in April 1975.
IMAGE: After heading the Vietnamese army from 2016 to 2021, General Giang was appointed defence minister.
IMAGE: The Raksha Mantri presents a memento to General Giang.
IMAGE: The Raksha Mantri is flanked to his right by Ambassador Pranay Verma, India's envoy to Hanoi, and to his left by Nivedita Shukla Verma, additional secretary at the ministry of defence (the Vermas are not related).
IMAGE: Rajnath Singh lays a wreath at Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. Until his death in September 1969, 'Uncle Ho' was president of the then North Vietnam and led his nation's war with the US.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
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