“Rahul is right…” Sharad Pawar after EAM Jaishankar attacked Cong leader over China border row
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 22 (ANI): Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday termed Rahul Gandhi’s claims on China’s aggression on the LAC in eastern Ladakh as right and said that the neighbouring country has developed a good infrastructure on the border areas.
Pawar’s statement came a day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar retorted at the Congress leader’s repeated aim at the government over China’s aggression and said that PM Modi sent the army to the LAC, not Rahul Gandhi.
Taking note of the Indo-China border, Sharad Pawar said, “China has stationed more troops on their side, and they have also made good infrastructure like roads, lights, water, etc. Be it Rahul or any other opposition leader, they have repeatedly raised this issue and we continue to raise it even today.”
Former Defence Minister Pawar also said that Rajnath Singh has briefed him and other former Defence Minister AK Antony about the situation along the border with China in July last year.
“During the meeting, Defence Minister Singh along with other officials detailed us for two-three hours over the “sensitive” issue,” Pawar said during the press briefing.
Pawar went on to add that China has not transgressed into our side, we agree, but they have developed a good infrastructure on their side and we should not ignore it.
In an interview with ANI, released on Tuesday, Jaishankar said the Modi government had increased the budget by five times to ramp up border infrastructure.
“Till 2014, it was roughly Rs 3000-4000 crore, today it is Rs 14,000 crore. If you look at the roads that are built, the bridges, they have doubled or tripled, look at the tunnels this government is serious about border infrastructure,” he said.
Asked about the Congress party’s allegation that the Modi government is defensive and reactive on the China issue, Jaishankar dismissed the claims saying there is currently the largest peacetime deployment along the China border.
“If I would have to sum up this China thing, please do not buy this narrative that somewhere the government is on the defensive…somewhere we are being accommodative. I ask people if we were being accommodative who sent the Indian Army to the LAC (Line of Actual Control). Rahul Gandhi did not send them. Narendra Modi sent them. We have today the largest peacetime deployment in our history on the China border. We are keeping troops there at a huge cost with great effort. We have increased our infrastructure spending on the border five times in this government. Now tell me who is the defensive and accommodative person? Who is actually telling the truth? Who is depicting things accurately? Who is playing footsie with history?”,” added Jaishankar in an interview to ANI.
Asked about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks that S Jaishankar did not know much about foreign policy and needed to learn a little bit more, the External Affairs Minister took a veiled dig and said he is willing to listen to the Wayanad MP if he has “superior knowledge and wisdom” on China.
