In a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India's opposition Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi said in a video blog that the prime minister has come under pressure from China to save his image.
"I am worried that the Prime Minister has come under pressure. I was worried that the Chinese were sitting on our land and the Prime Minister openly denied they are not. This clearly shows that he is worried about his image”, Rahul Gandhi said 2 minutes 39 seconds into a video posted on his Twitter.
The Congress leader further stated that Modi fabricated a fake strongman image to come to power and that it was his biggest strength, but that now it’s India’s biggest weakness.
PM fabricated a fake strongman image to come to power. It was his biggest strength.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 20, 2020
It is now India’s biggest weakness. pic.twitter.com/ifAplkFpVv
In the video shared by Rahul Gandhi, he can be heard talking about China’s strategy to restructure the planet.
“Chinese don’t do anything without thinking about a strategy. In their mind, they have mapped out a world and they are now trying to shape the world… that’s the scale of what they are doing. That’s what Gwadar is, that’s what Belt and Road is. It’s the restructuring of the planet”, Gandhi said.
Gandhi further pointed out at the tactical level of China and stated that they are trying to improve their positions, whether it’s Galwan, Demchowk, or Pangong Tso.
“They (Chinese) 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,” he said, adding that the tension between the two Asian giants India and China cannot simply be defined as a border issue.
Meanwhile, the governing Bharatiya Janata Party's President Jai Prakash Nadda, while defending the action taken by the Modi government, blamed Gandhi for politicising defence and foreign policy matters, which shows "one dynasty’s (Gandhi family) desperation to wash their past sins of 1962 and weaken India".
Rahul Gandhi is the great, great grandchild of India's first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. It was under Nehru's tenure that India lost thousands of kilometres land in the Himalayas to China.
"In recent years, be it Doklam or the present, Rahul Gandhi prefers briefings from the Chinese instead of believing India’s armed forces. Why does one dynasty want a weak India and a strong China?" Nadda questioned Rahul Gandhi over the latter's persistent attacks on Modi.
The border conflict has become a hot topic among the opposition in India, which is questioning the Modi government's way of handling the issue. The government is constantly being cornered by the opposition with such claims. Nevertheless, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh assured the nation during his visit to forward areas in Ladakh last Friday that "No power on earth can touch, or capture, even an inch of Indian territory".
India and China have been involved in high level talks to reduce the tension along the Line of Actual Control after a violent clash on the night of 15 June in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley.
