India, Jan. 11 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday delivered a strong message on India's civilisational resilience while addressing the Somnath Swabhiman Parv in Gujarat's Prabhas Patan. Marking 1,000 years since Mahmud of Ghazni's 1026 attack on the Somnath temple, Modi said the repeated invasions of the shrine could not be explained merely as acts of economic plunder.

He warned that forces which once opposed the reconstruction of the Somnath temple have not disappeared and are still active, though they now operate through "other malicious means" instead of direct violence.

Addressing saints, priests, elected representatives, and devotees, the Prime Minister said the repeated destruction of Somnath over centuries pointed to a dee...