Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah greeted the National Security Guards (NSG), popularly known as the Black Cats, on their raising day on Monday.

On the occasion, Narendra Modi lauded all the brave personnel of the force who, in the course of their duty, displayed unwavering professionalism, a deep love for our nation and indomitable courage. In a X post, he wrote, “The @nsgblackcats have firmly established themselves as a distinguished force, safeguarding us from various threats.”

Lauding the contribution of the Black Cats to the nation’s security, Amit Shah said the said true to their motto, the force has evolved into ‘Sarvatra Sarvotta Suraksha’ (omnipresent all-powerful protection), and built themselves as the nation’s bulwark against all big threats.

The NSG, or the Black Cats, was founded on October 16, in the year 1984, as a counter-terrorism unit of the country falling under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

On the occasion, the home minister commemorated all those fallen soldiers of the elite contingency deployment force, who made supreme sacrifices in the line of duty upholding professionalism and love for the country.

Taking to ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter, Shah said, ”My heartfelt congratulations to the NSG personnel on their raising day. Standing true to its motto Sarvatra Sarvotta Suraksha, the @nsgblackcats has built itself as the nation’s bulwark of security against perils. On this auspicious occasion, commemorate all the soldiers of the force who made supreme sacrifices in the line of duty proving their immaculate professionalism, love for the motherland and steely courage with their lives.”

Director General of the NSG MA Ganapathy also greeted his force’s soldiers on the 39th Raising Day, calling upon them to renew their dedication to nation’s service on the occasion.

Ganapathy had recently said the NSG was focussing on building better coordination among all the Special Forces of the state and anti-terror agencies in view of tackling unprecedented situations like what happened.

The federal contingency agency force chief said there were lessons to be learned from extreme terror situations and the need is to have a framework in place with regard to crisis management response at the national level and highly skilled personnel who are at the peak of their skill at the same time, along with technology.

“We should always remember this lesson that ultimately it’s the man and the weapon, which makes the final difference,” the DG had said.

He had also said that the NSG, in coordination with state special forces, will work on preparedness for scenarios that can have multiple attacks at multiple places at the same time.

The NSG had organised a two-day seminar on October 12, 13 titled ‘Sub-conventional threats: challenges and prospects for definite and enduring solutions,’ that took place in Delhi at the DRDO Bhawan, aimed at building better coordination among anti- terror agencies and state special forces to upgrade the anti- terror approach and actions during unprecedented scenarios.

The seminar is being organised as part of the NSG raising day events and will conclude on Friday, and is taking place at DRDO Bhawan in Delhi.

The NSG played a vital role in several anti-terror operations, including the 2002 Akshardham temple attack in Gujarat, the 26/11 Mumbai attack, and the Pathankot Airbase attack in 2016, among others.

Martyrs like Lt Col Niranjan EK, Major Sandeep Unnikirushnan, Suresh Chand Yadav and many others were the NSG commandoes who sacrificed their lives in the fight against terror displaying great valour.