Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an all-party meeting chaired to discuss the violent face-off between India and China at Galwan Valley in Ladakh, made a claim that no one had intruded India, nor any post was captured, Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to take a dig at the PM.
"Narendra Modi is actually Surender Modi", said Gandhi, while sharing a Japan Times article, titled, 'India’s appeasement policy toward China unravels'.
Earlier, he had also said, "PM has surrendered Indian territory to Chinese aggression.”
Modi's comment on Friday had created a furore with many questioning if India had ceded to China, however, on Saturday, PM's office issued a clarification saying, "(PM's) observations that there was no Chinese presence on our side of the LAC pertained to the situation as a consequence of the bravery of our armed forces".
In a statement, denouncing “attempts to give mischievous interpretation” to Modi’s remarks in an all-party meeting, the PMO said he was clear that India would respond firmly to any attempts to transgress the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
BJP Responds With Criticism
Following Gandhi's tweet, former Congressmen and Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his "exasperation" had made him commit the (spelling) mistake. "Surrendering has been the hallmark of the Gandhi-Nehru family," the BJP leader said in reference to the 1962 India-China war.
BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal's leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa also hit back, calling him 'Chinese Gandhi'.
BJP’s social media chief Amit Malviya resurrected the Bofors scam to embarrass Gandhi. “He earlier tried to salvage his father’s Bofors legacy by questioning the Rafale deal,” remarked Malviya.
He also said that the constant attack on Modi by Gandhi was nothing but "an effort to whitewash the sins of Nehru", alleging it was independent India's first Prime Minister and Gandhi's great-grandfather who ceded a chunk of Indian territory to China.
(With inputs from IANS.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)