‘PM’s strongman image now biggest weakness’

Rahul talks about China’s plan to restructure ‘planet’

Reiterating that China has still occupied India’s territory, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi yet again, saying his “strongman image” has now become India’s “biggest weakness”.

“PM fabricated a fake strongman image to come to power. It was his biggest strength. It is now India’s biggest weakness,” Mr Gandhi said in a video message which he tweeted early Monday morning.

In the nearly two-minute video, Mr Gandhi spoke about China’s strategy to restructure the “planet”. The Wayanad MP had earlier said India will pay a huge price because of the government’s cowardly actions.

“What is China’s strategic and tactical game plan? It is simply not a border issue. The worry I have is that the Chinese are sitting in our territory today. Chinese don’t do anything without thinking about a strategy,” he said.

“In their mind, they have mapped out a world and they are now trying to shape the world... that’s what is the scale of what they are doing. That’s what Gwadar is, that’s what Belt and Road (project) is. It’s the restructuring of the planet,” he added.

The tensions between India and China cannot simply be defined as a border issue. It is a border issue designed to put pressure on the Prime Minister and they are trying to attack his image.

“At the tactical level, they are trying to improve their position whether it’s Galwan, whether it’s Demchok or whether it’s the Pangong Lake. They are disturbed by our highway, they want to make our highway redundant. And if they are thinking larger scale, they want to do something with Pakistan in Kashmir,” the Congress leader said.

“They understand that in order for Narendra Modi to be an effective politician, he has to protect the idea of the “56 inch (chest)” and this is the idea that Chinese are attacking. They are basically telling Mr Narendra Modi that ‘if you do not say what we are saying we will destroy the idea of the Mr Narendra Modi as a strong leader’,” he said.

Mr Gandhi continued saying, now the question is, how will PM Narendra Modi react. Will he take them on? Will he take on the challenge and say absolutely not, I’m the Prime Minister of India. I do not care about my image I’m going to take you on. Or will he succumb to them?

What is China’s strategic and tactical game plan? It is simply not a border issue. The worry I have is that the Chinese are sitting in our territory today. Chinese don’t do anything without thinking about it strategically.

— Rahul Gandhi, Cong leader