Sharad Pawar’s statement unclear, he too was worried about Chinese intrusion: Cong

MUMBAI: A day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and former defence minister Sharad Pawar asked the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ‘to not politicise’ the India-china border clashes, state Congress leaders tried to downplay the entire issue by terming Pawar’s statement as ‘unclear’.

State Congress chief and state revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat, on Sunday, said that it is not clear what Pawar has said. “By using just one of his comments, the media should not draw any conclusions and rush to give a clean chit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We lost 20 soldiers in the Galwan valley face off. Yet, PM Modi said there was no intrusion by China. Taking advantage of this Chinese are calling our martyrs as intruders. I am sure that even Pawarsaheb is as saddened by this as we are this as are,” he said

Pawar, on Saturday in Satara, had virtually chided Rahul Gandhi

for attempting to politicise an issue concerning national security and reminded how China occupied 45,000 sqkm of the Indian territory in 1962. “Let us not forget what happened in 1962 when China occupied 45,000 sqkm of Indian territory. While levelling such allegations, one must also think what happened in the past,” he had said.

Thorat said, “The Congress party is with the government on the China issue, but that doesn’t mean that questions shouldn’t be asked on the issues of national interest. The questions raised by Rahul Gandhiji on border security is not politics, but discharging of our responsibility given to us by the people. We cannot compare the 1962 situation with that with what is happening today.”

Throat said that PM Modi did not utter a single word regarding the Chinese aggression in his Mann Ki Baat on Sunday. “The BJP should not consider the Congress suggestions as politics. If it is about the country’s integrity, Rahulji and Congress will continue to ask questions,” he said.