On Republic Day, PM Modi sends heartfelt personalised SMS to 18 lakh cops

"Happy Republic Day. I salute the courage and service of lakhs of police personnel like you." This personalised SMS was sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to 18 lakh personnel of police forces and paramilitary forces today on the occasion of the Republic Day, an official said.

The message was sent from government's bulk SMS pool and was received from 'DZ-PMModi' sender link, according to a police official who received the message.

The message was sent to the personnel ranging from the Director General rank officer to the constabulary, working with both state and central governments, as part of PM's initiative to connect with them. The link given on the said SMS takes an individual further to an Android-based mobile phone application of Modi which is a repository of his speeches and official activities as the Prime Minister.

This is perhaps the first time that a Prime Minister has directly communicated to all policemen across the country in one go.

The Prime Minister during the three-day DGPs conference held in Gujarat in December last year had expressed his desire to greet and wish each policeman of the country.

After that conference, he had asked all state and central police DGsP and other policing organisation heads to send to his office the list of contact numbers of all policemen before January 26 so that he could send the SMSes on Republic Day on their phones.