BJP, Rahul in war of words over claims of land being ‘conceded’

NEW DELHI: The Union government and leaders from the Bharatiya Janaya Party (BJP) on Friday hit out at former Congress president Rahul Gandhi for raising questions over the agreement between India and China on troop disengagement in eastern Ladakh, and called his comment an attempt to dampen the morale of the military.

Minister of state for home affairs G Kishan Reddy said the Congress MP should question his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru who “gave India’s land to China”.

Reddy was responding to Gandhi’s comments earlier on Friday that “the PM has given away sacred Indian territory to China”, and that the Indian Army held Finger 4 area in Ladakh along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC) but now it will move back to its permanent position near Finger 3.

“He must ask his great-grandfather (Jawaharlal Nehru) about who has given India’s territory to China, he will get the answer. Who is a patriot and who is not, the public knows it all,” Reddy said.

In a press briefing, Gandhi raised questions about the disengagement a day after Union defence minister Rajnath Singh

informed the Lok Sabha that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will retreat to its base east of Finger 8 on the north bank of Pangong Tso and the Indian Army will move back to its permanent position near Finger 3.

“Indian government’s position was status quo ante in April 2020. Now, defence minister comes and makes a statement. We find Indian troops will now be stationed in Finger 3. Finger 4 used to be our territory. Why has PM Modi given our land to the Chinese?” Gandhi asked.

“Why they have been asked to move back? There is no word on our most strategic area of Depsang plains. The government is mum on Gogra post and Hot Springs. PM Modi has stooped before China and given away the land between Finger 3 and Finger 4 to the Chinese,” he said.

“There is no strategic advantage. Chinese were in our land. Our soldiers risked everything they had to go to Kailash ranges. Now PM has given back land and status quo ante is irrelevant. This is absolute 100% cowardice. The Prime Minister is a coward who can’t stand up to the Chinese,” Gandhi added.

The Union defence ministry said in a statement that contrary to certain misleading reports being circulated, India had not ceded any territory as a result of the disengagement agreement.

Senior BJP leader and Union minister for minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi accused Gandhi, who is a member of the Lok Sabha from Wayanad, of demoralising the Indian security forces. “There is no cure if they (the Congress) are engaged in conspiracy to defame the country... they are trying to break the morale of the security forces,” Naqvi said. This is not the first time that the BJP and the Congress have sparred over defence and strategic issues. The BJP has in the past accused the Congress in general and Gandhi in particular of disrespecting the forces, questioning their defence preparedness and raising doubts about operations.

In December 2018, Gandhi said that the Indian Army had conducted three surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was in power but those operations were kept under wraps at the force’s insistence and accused the BJP government of turning a targeted September 2016 operation into a “political asset” to garner votes during the Uttar Pradesh elections.