Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remark that neither is anyone inside India's territory nor has any of its posts been captured, alleging that the prime minister has "surrendered" Indian territory to Chinese aggression.
PM has surrendered Indian territory to Chinese aggression.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 20, 2020
If the land was Chinese:
1. Why were our soldiers killed?
2. Where were they killed? pic.twitter.com/vZFVqtu3fD
In a statement on the all-party meeting called by Modi on Friday to discuss the situation at the India-China border, the government said, "At the outset, prime minister clarified that neither is anyone inside our territory nor is any of our post captured."
Tagging Modi's remarks with his tweet, Rahul said, "PM has surrendered Indian territory to Chinese aggression."
"If the land was Chinese: 1. Why were our soldiers killed? 2. Where were they killed?" Rahul said.
The categorical statement by the prime minister came in the wake of reports that the Chinese military has transgressed into the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control, the de-facto border, in several areas of eastern Ladakh including Pangong Tso and Galwan Valley.
The prime minister's assertion came even as Congress president Sonia Gandhi, at the all-party meet, questioned the government's handling of the situation, asking whether there was any intelligence failure, and seeking an assurance that China will "revert" to its original position.
Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused senior ministers in the government of "lying" to protect the prime minister and that the Centre was "fast asleep" while martyred jawans paid the price in Ladakh.
The former Congress chief also tagged a one-minute video of a jawan's father saying the Indian soldiers were unarmed when they were attacked by Chinese troops.
Rahul has been questioning the government on the LAC standoff and asking how the Chinese occupied Indian territory and why Indian soldiers were sent "unarmed to martyrdom" in Ladakh.
Twenty Indian Army personnel, including a colonel, were killed in a clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on Monday night, the biggest military confrontation between the two nations in over five decades that has significantly escalated the already volatile border standoff in the region.
