Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Friday mockingly asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show his “56-inch chest” by telling Chinese President Xi Jinping to vacate land in “Pakistan-occupied Kashmir”.
His remarks came hours before Xi and Modi will meet for their second informal summit in the coastal town of Mamallapuram near Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
“As Xi Jinping supports Imran Khan on Article 370 Modiji look him in the eye at Mamallapuram and say : 1) Vacate 5000 km of land in PoK occupied by China trans-Karakoram 2) No Huawei in India for 5G. Show your 56 [inch] ki chhati,” Sibal said in a tweet. “Or is it a case of difference in posturing and action.”
China is a major diplomatic and economic partner of Pakistan. India has repeatedly raised concerns about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, as it travels through parts of Kashmir that are occupied by Pakistan.
Chinese telecom equipment firm Huawei has been banned by the United States because of security and espionage-related concerns. Additionally, the US has been lobbying with other countries, including India, to ban the company. However, India recently gave approval to the firm to demonstrate 5G technology-use cases at a three-day India Mobile Congress to be held in New Delhi.
Modi had made the “56-inch chest” remark during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He had criticised Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav during a rally. “You can’t make a Gujarat,” he had told Yadav. “That needs a chappan inch ki chhaati [56-inch chest].”
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India puts on its best face ahead of Modi-Xi summit in Mamallapuram
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