Rahul Gandhi slams Modi over Sino-India standoff; says China knows PM is 'scared'

In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, February 27, said the PM is scared of China. He added that China knows that PM Modi will compromise the country's interests. "Essentially the Chinese occupied certain strategic areas in our country. They first tested the idea in Dokhlam. They tested the idea to see how India would react and they noticed India did not react. And then they carried out the idea again in Ladakh and also, I believe, in Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

Launching his three-day tour of Tamil Nadu ahead of the April 6 Assembly polls, Gandhi spoke out in detail over Sino-India border issues. The Wayanad MP said that PM Modi's first reaction to the Chinese incursions was "that nobody has come into India."

"That indicated to the Chinese that the Prime Minister of India is scared of them. That is the message he indicated to the Chinese, that he is scared of them and the Chinese understood it. And since then, the Chinese have negotiated on that principle," he said.

"They know that the Prime Minister of India cannot stand up to them. Mark my words, our land in Depsang, which is the most important land, is not going to come back to under this government. The Prime Minister will not get that land back. He will pretend everything is sorted out, but India is going to lose that territory," Gandhi asserted.

Giving such a message to the Chinese was "very dangerous to the future because the Chinese are not going to stop with Ladakh," he alleged.

He said the government under Congress "always dealt with the Chinese without any hesitation."

"The Chinese understood very well that India cannot be pushed around. Even in 2013 when the Chinese entered India, we took action that forced them, forced them to compromise...we went and occupied other spaces," he said.

"They have now understood the Prime Minister doesn't have the courage...the Chinese know the Prime Minister is going to compromise," the Congress leader added.

Gandhi further spoke about how India's democracy is in danger and added that there has been a systematic attack on elected institutions and the free press over the past six years and blamed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for it.

"Democracy doesn't die with a bang, it dies slowly. Institutions like Parliament, judiciary, press, etc hold the nation together. A nation is a balance between its institutions. If that balance is destroyed, then the nation is destroyed. RSS has penetrated into them," Gandhi noted.

Also read: Maruti Suzuki vehicle exports cross 20 lakh milestone

Also read: SBI Mutual Fund IPO slated for this year; gears to raise $1 billion