Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that China is preparing for war while the Indian government is asleep and trying to ignore the threat.
The Lok Sabha MP made the comments during a press conference in Jaipur at the completion of 100 days of the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
“I can see the threat of China very clearly,” Gandhi said. “I have been clear on this for the last two-three years but the government is trying to hide it and ignore it. This threat can neither be hidden nor ignored. Their [China’s] full offensive preparation is going on...the Indian government is asleep.”
He stated that China’s preparation is not for incursion, but for war. “If you look at their weapon pattern, what they are doing, they are preparing for war,” the former Congress chief added. “Our government hides this and is not able to accept it.”
He also alleged that China has taken away 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory, according to PTI.
His comments came after Indian and Chinese troops clashed along the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector on December 9. India says Chinese soldiers attempted to “unilaterally change the status quo” by transgressing the Line of Actual Control, while China claims Indian troops illegally crossed the border to stop a routine patrol of troops.
The India government has said that soldiers from both sides suffered minor injuries. But the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Arunachal Pradesh unit chief and party MP Tapir Gao told the United Kingdom-based daily The Telegraph that six Indian soldiers were severely hurt.
No one should underestimate Congress, says Gandhi
On Friday, Gandhi also said that no one should underestimate the Congress as it is ideologically driven and is the only party which can bring down the BJP.
“A lot of people have this fantasy that the Congress party is finished,” the MP from Wayanad said. “But I can say that the Congress party can never be finished and mark my words the BJP is going to be taken down by the Congress party.”
Ahead of Gujarat Assembly elections this month, Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal had said that the Congress was finished and the media should stop paying attention to the party.
However, during Friday’s press conference, Gandhi claimed that the Congress represents a national ideology and a vision for the country.
“The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh and BJP propose a hateful view of India,” Gandhi said. “There’s another view that the nation should talk, understand, be kind and share love. This is the view the [Bharat Jodo] Yatra has shown to the people. That’s where it has been a great success.”
The former Congress chief also claimed that his party would have defeated the BJP in Gujarat, if the Aam Aadmi Party would not have been put up as a “proxy”.
On December 8, the BJP won 156 out of the total 182 seats in the Gujarat Assembly elections, recording the best performance ever by a party in the state. The Congress won 17 seats, while AAP bagged five constituencies, enabling it to claim the status of a national party.
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