Rahul Gandhi was having soup with Chinese officials during Doklam incident: Union minister Anurag Thakur

Patiala (Punjab) [India], December 17 (ANI): Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday hit out at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over the latter’s controversial remark flagging ‘clear threats’ from alleged Chinese incursions into Indian territory.

“Rahul Gandhi was seen having soup with Chinese officials during the Doklam incident whereas the Indian Army was fighting with Chinese troops. When the Indian Army did surgical strikes, even then he questioned us. Rahul Gandhi and Congress don’t have faith in our Army,” Thakur said. Earlier on Friday, in an apparent reference to the recent faceoff between the Indian and Chinese troops in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh, Rahul accused the Centre of ‘sleeping’ while China makes ‘offensive preparations’ across the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

“There is a clear threat from China. The government is trying to hide it and ignore it. But the threat cannot be ignored or hidden. China is making an offensive preparation across the LAC, in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. The Union government is asleep. China is preparing for war, not incursions,” he said at a press conference on Friday.

On Tuesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh issued a statement in Parliament on the Tawang faceoff, saying that Chinese troops had attempted to transgress the LAC at Yangtse in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh in a bid to “unilaterally change the status quo”, but were given a “firm and resolute response” from the Indian soldiers, eventually forcing them to retreat to their positions.

Singh said the face-off led to a physical scuffle, resulting in minor injuries to a few personnel on either side but “there were no fatalities or casualties” on the Indian side.

He added, “Our forces are committed to protecting our territorial integrity and will continue to thwart any attempt to alter the status quo on the LAC.”