BJP Has Lost National Security Narrative, Claims Shashi Tharoor

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday slammed the Central government over national security, claiming that it did not take any action on the border issues involving China.

"The BJP contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections making national security an issue, but what happened after that? China came to the borders and destroyed the understanding that the two countries developed over the years. They (China) knew that the Narendra Modi government only talks, but doesn't take any action," Mr Tharoor said while interacting with mediapersons here.

"If the BJP is contesting the ongoing elections on national security, I would like to say that we had 65 patrolling points on the India-China border where the armies of both countries had the authority to do patrolling for 45 years. Now, the Chinese army has occupied 26 of them and they are not allowing the Indian Army to go there.

"The Modi government has not done anything in this matter. Twenty of our soldiers were martyred in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh," Mr Tharoor said.

Mr Tharoor's remarks came after senior BJP leaders pointed out that PoK belongs to India, and it will be taken back from Pakistan at any cost.

Mr Tharoor added: "The national security narrative of the BJP failed during this election and hence its leaders raised issues of Ram Temple and Hindutva. Now, we have set the narrative for the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.

"We asked people if there was any change in their lifestyle in the 10 years of Narendra Modi's rule. Do common people get jobs? Has their purchasing power increased? But people are saying that nothing like this happened in their lives. We also asked people why we should give the BJP a third chance," Mr Tharoor said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)