Ahead of QUAD Meeting, Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi Taunts PM Modi, Says He's 'Scared of China'

India and China have been engaged in a border standoff since May 2020 amidst ongoing military and diplomatic talks to resolve it. Both countries have engaged in a blame game over the heavy deployment of troops and equipment in sensitive areas. The opposition party Congress has been critical of the Modi government's handling of the border conflict.

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with US President Joe Biden, a key leader from India's main opposition party Congress -- Rahul Gandhi -- has mocked Modi for being "scared of China".

Congress leader Gandhi on Friday tweeted a video with several media reports of a Chinese incursion in the eastern Ladakh region of India, and took a jibe at Prime Minister Modi by referring to him as "Mr 56".

Mr 56” is scared of China.

Mr 56” चीन से डरता है। pic.twitter.com/taRfoRzMEl

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 24, 2021

The video that Rahul Gandhi tweeted includes a compilation of headlines that have appeared in various national newspapers in recent months, highlighting the growing Chinese footprint in the Ladakh sector and the loss of Indian troops' lives in skirmishes at the border with China.

The Congress parliamentarian has frequently alleged that the Modi-led federal government has not been transparent about the extent of Chinese excursions and lost large part of Indian territory to China in the Ladakh sector.

His party has called for a debate in the parliament on the conflict with China in the Ladakh sector, a demand that the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has declined on a number of occasions.

Gandhi's tweet comes at a time when Modi is currently on an official visit to the United States and set to attend the first ever in-person QUAD summit being hosted by Biden. The leaders of four nations who are part of QUAD, US, India, Japan and Australia are expected to discuss security issues, including the influence of China in the Indo-Pacific region and steps to counter it.

Why Modi is Called 'Mr 56' by Opposition Leaders

During the 2014 parliamentary elections in India, being a three-time Gujarat state chief, BJP leader Modi at a public rally used the word "56-inch Ka Seena" (an Indian way of denoting a the wide chest of a powerful and courageous man) while boasting of his state's development model.

The phrase "Mr 56" is often jeeringly used by leaders of opposition parties for Modi. His use of this expression has also spurred several meme-fests and mock pages on Facebook, with the Congress party and many other politicians using the term in poll campaigns to make fun of him.

Modi, however, went on to become the prime minister after the 2014 elections.

Meanwhile, Gandhi's swipe at the prime minister was immediately condemned by the BJP's spokesperson R.P. Singh, who called the Congress lawmaker an "adolescent who does not have any knowledge of international politics".