“Word ‘pitai’ shouldn’t be used for jawans,” Jaishankar hits out at Rahul Gandhi over his remark on Tawang faceoff

New Delhi [India], December 19 (ANI): External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Monday, while reacting to the Opposition’s walkout in the Rajya Sabha after the Chair rejected demands for a debate on Chinese incursion on the borders, said that India’s jawans should not be criticised directly or indirectly.

“Our soldiers are standing at a height of 13,000 feet in Yangtse and guarding our border. They should be respected and appreciated,” Jaishankar said while speaking in Lok Sabha during the Winter Session of Parliament. Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday rejected all nine notices under rule 267 saying they were not in order.

Reacting to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s comment on the Indian and Chinese troops clash in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang recently, the minister said that the word “pitai” should not be used for our jawans.

“We have no problem with political criticism but we should not disrespect our jawans. I have heard that my own understanding needs to be deepened. When I see who is giving the advice I can only bow and respect.

The word ‘pitai’ should not be used for our jawans,” Jaishankar hit out at Rahul Gandhi without naming him.

Rahul Gandhi, earlier on Friday while commenting on the recent faceoff between India and China had said that the Foreign Minister should “deepen” his understanding.

“We should understand what is happening. The External Affairs Minister keeps giving statements, but he should deepen his understanding,” Gandhi had said at a press conference in Jaipur on Friday during his “Bharat Jodo Yatra”.

Flagging a “clear threat from China” amid the ongoing border row, Gandhi also had claimed that the neighbouring country is “preparing for war” and alleged that the Centre is “hiding and not accepting it”.

In an apparent reference to the recent faceoff between the Indian and Chinese soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector on December 9, Gandhi said that China is making an “offensive preparation on the side of Ladakh and Arunachal” while the Indian government “is in slumber”.

He then went on to say that Indian jawans in Arunachal Pradesh are being “thrashed up” by the Chinese Army troops.

“The ones who captured 2,000 sq km of India and killed 20 Indian soldiers, and are thrashing our soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh,” Gandhi had said.

Meanwhile today, the External Affairs minister further added, “If we were indifferent to China then who sent the Indian Army to the border? If we were indifferent to China then why are we pressuring China for de-escalation and disengagement today? Why are we saying publicly that our relations are not normal?”