External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, taking a dig at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday said the land that opposition leaders say has been occupied by China “was in fact occupied in 1962”.
The foreign minister also said some people deliberately spread incorrect information about the China issue, knowing it is not true for politics. They try to create an impression that it happened recently, the minister said.
Last year, Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given “100 square kilometres of Indian territory” to China “without a fight,” and asked the government how it would be retrieved. In a recent interaction with actor-turned-politician Kamal Hassan, the Wayanad MP again claimed “China has taken 2,000 sqm, but our Prime Minister Modi has not said anything”.
“Sometimes, they talk about some land which was taken by China in 1962. But they will not tell you the truth. They will give you the impression that this thing happened yesterday,” the foreign minister said without taking names.
He said sometimes such people (leaders of political parties) spread wrong news or information about China on purpose.
“If you want to ask why they have no confidence, why are they misleading people, why do they spread the wrong khabar (news) about China? How can I answer these questions? Because I know they are also doing politics. Sometimes they deliberately spread such news that they know is not true,” Jaishankar added.
The minister took a further dig at Rahul Gandhi’s 2017 meeting with the envoy when the two countries were in a standoff.
In 2017, when India and China were locked in a standoff on the border area abutting Bhutan, the Congress said Rahul Gandhi had met the ambassadors of the two neighbouring countries.
“Also, if I would need to know something (on China), I won’t go to the Chinese ambassador to get input, but to my military leadership,” Jaishankar added.
Indian and Chinese troops clashed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang Sector on December 9, 2022. Troops from both sides sustained injuries in the clash and there were no fatalities on the Indian side, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had told Parliament.
The foreign minister also spoke about overseas news outlets using adjectives such as “Hindu nationalist” for the BJP government. “In America or Europe, they won’t say Christian Nationalist… these adjectives are reserved for us,” he said.