China was back in focus of the Congress and BJP’s verbal duel on Monday. The Congress said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “silence” and the “increasing infiltration” by Beijing was “very harmful for the country”.
The BJP wondered if the Opposition party does not have faith in the Army's statement and sought it not to politicize the issue.
The political slugfest on the China-India standoff along the Line of Actual Control again surfaced when former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said the "increasing Chinese infiltration" into Indian territory and the PM’s "silence" on it are "very harmful" for the country.
The Galwan valley face-off in June 2020 in western Ladakh had triggered frequent opposition attacks on the government for not revealing the details of what it called ‘Chinese encroachment’ in Indian land, a charge strongly rejected by the Modi govenrment.
The Congress leader while questioning the Prime Minister’s “ silence” on the issue also shared five "truths" about him , alleging that he is "afraid" of China and hides the truth, besides protecting his own image.
"Some truths about the prime minister: 1. Is afraid of China. 2. Hides the truth from the public. 3. Just protects his own image. 4. Lowers the morale of the Army. 5. Plays with the security of the country. "The increasing infiltration by China and the Prime Minister's silence are very harmful for the country," he said in a tweet in Hindi. The Congress has been alleging that China continues to occupy Indian territory and the government has done nothing to reclaim it.
In a riposte to the Congress on the issue , BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi claimed that Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi had also talked about former Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat rejecting such claims.
"I want to ask the Congress if it has trust in the Indian Army or not, or whether it trusts the reply of the Indian Army chief or not? Or do you want to do politics over his statement," he asked here at a press conference.
At a separate presser, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi asked Modi to take the nation into confidence on the alleged Chinese transgressions into India and asked him to address the concerns on national security, integrity and sovereignty.
Hitting back at the Congress after Gogoi used the initials (DDLJ) of a popular Hindi film to attack the government, Trivedi invoked the initials of another famous movie (QSQT) to say that this aptly describes the internal situation within the opposition party. "Qayamat ka hal hai" (It is like an apocalypse within the party), he said.
He was apparently referring to internal rebellion plaguing the Congress, most recently in Goa.