New Delhi, Oct 17, 2025:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday delivered a stirring keynote address at the NDTV World Summit 2025, held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, asserting that India has shed its silence and now responds decisively to terrorism. The summit, themed “Edge of the Unknown: Risk, Resolve, Renewal,” brought together world leaders, thinkers, and policymakers to discuss global challenges and resilience in uncertain times.
Addressing a distinguished audience that included Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, PM Modi declared, “The era of a silent India is over. Today’s self-reliant India does not stay silent — it gives a befitting response through surgical strikes, airstrikes, and Operation Sindoor.”
The Prime Minister’s remarks referred to Operation Sindoor, India’s major counter-terrorism offensive conducted on May 7, 2025, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Pakistan’s Punjab province. The coordinated strikes by the Indian Air Force, Navy, and Army used advanced stand-off precision missiles to destroy multiple facilities linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hizbul Mujahideen, neutralising over 100 militants.
Operation Sindoor was carried out in direct retaliation for the April 22 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 people, reaffirming India’s zero-tolerance policy toward terrorism.
PM Modi positioned the operation as part of a continuum of assertive national responses, following the 2016 surgical strikes and the 2019 Balakot airstrikes, which targeted terror bases in Pakistan after the Uri and Pulwama attacks. “This is a new India — confident, self-assured, and unafraid to act,” he said, drawing sustained applause from the audience.
While the focus of his speech was national security, PM Modi also underscored India’s economic resilience amid global instability. “Soon after COVID, the world was shaken by wars and crises. Yet India continued to move forward,” he said, highlighting an average GDP growth rate of 7.8% over the last three years. He pointed to a 7% rise in merchandise exports, reported earlier this week, as proof of India’s strong fundamentals.
The Prime Minister concluded by emphasising that India’s strength lies in its ability to defend itself while driving progress, projecting the nation as a global leader rooted in resolve and renewal.
The NDTV World Summit 2025, inaugurated on Friday, serves as a forum for international dialogue on geopolitics, innovation, and sustainable growth — with PM Modi’s address setting a powerful tone of confidence and self-reliance for the New India.
