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NEW DELHI : Refuting Rahul Gandhi ’s claim that the Army chief had said Chinese troops were present inside Indian territory, defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday slammed the Congress MP for making “false accusations” and indulging in “irresponsible politics” on matters of national security. “The Army chief’s remarks referred only to the disturbance of traditional patrolling by both sides. He also mentioned these practices have been restored to their traditional pattern as part of the recent disengagement (in Depsang and Demchok in eastern Ladakh in Oct),” Singh said in a post on ‘X’.
Noting that the words attributed to Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi “were never spoken by him at any time”, Singh added that it is “a matter of deep regret that Shri Rahul Gandhi should indulge in irresponsible politics on matters of national interest”. Speaking during the debate on the President’s address in Lok Sabha Monday, Rahul said Gen Dwivedi’s statements had contradicted PM Modi, who had denied that Chinese forces were present inside Indian territory. “The PM has denied that Chinese forces are inside our territory, but for some reason, our Army keeps talking to the Chinese about their entry into our territory and our Army chief has said the Chinese are inside our territory.
This is a fact, this is not an invention,” Rahul had said. Singh also said that India, in fact, lost territory to China in the early-1960s when Jawaharlal Nehru was the PM.“If at all there is Indian territory into which China has come, this is 38,000 sq km in Aksai Chin as a result of the 1962 conflict and 5,180 sq km illegally ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963.
Shri Rahul Gandhi may consider introspecting about this phase of our history,” Singh said. Speaking ahead of Army Day on Jan 15, Gen Dwivedi had said there was still “a degree of standoff” persisting between the India Army and the PLA despite the troop disengagement at Depsang and Demchok, and the two countries need to rebuild trust to de-escalate overall tensions. Gen Dwivedi said both sides have “doctored” the terrain, carried out constructions, made troop deployments and resorted to military stockings since April 2020.
Consequently, there is still “a degree of standoff” in place, he said, adding that India will not reduce the number of its troops deployed along the LAC anytime soon..
