Our neighbours will not dare mess with India if the nation is powerful from within, feels Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, while speaking at the India Today Conclave 2015 in New Delhi. "I think we are fit for war. But whether we are in such a condition that others will not want to have a war with us, that is a question I will be able to answer two - three years from now," Parrikar said. 

"Everyone has at least one neighbour with whom you have problems. One must prepare for the eventuality and live with the difficulties," he said. "There was a family in my neighbourhood that used to make a lot of noise and create nuisance... I figured out that he was an alcoholic... I met the person who used to supply him liquor and asked him to make my neighbour stay longer at the place where he used to consume liquor," Parrikar said.

"If you have strength, the neighbour will be controlled," said Parrikar. "Integration has to be there and the Chief of Defense Staff is a must. How do you work it out? Give me some time and I will work it out because the integration of the three forces does not exist in the existing structure," he said.

By Premji