Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said Goa would have been liberated in 1947 itself if the armed forces were ordered to free it from the Portuguese rule and hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his statements on the China-Pakistan friendship and the 2020 Galwan Valley clash.
Addressing an election meeting at Ponda ahead of the February 14 polls to the 40-member Goa assembly, he referred to Mr Gandhi's speech in parliament where the Congress MP blamed the BJP-led central government's policies for China and Pakistan coming together against India.
The senior BJP leader maintained that it was during Congress regimes that China and Pakistan became close friends.
"I would like to remind you (Rahul Gandhi) that when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was India's prime minister, Pakistan had illegally occupied the Shaksgam Valley in Jammu and Kashmir and later handed it over to China," he said.
"Not only that, the Karakoram Highway was built as a symbol of friendship between China and Pakistan when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister of the country," Mr Singh said.
The BJP leader said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project started in 2013 when Congress leader Dr Manmohan Singh was the prime minister.
"It was that time (during Congress governments) that China and Pakistan friendship began. Do not fool people...tell them the truth," the defence minister said.
Mr Singh said Gandhi has been saying that during the Galwan Valley clash only Indian soldiers were martyred and that Chinese troops were not killed.
"(Rahul Gandhi says) even if Chinese soldiers were killed, they were just a couple of them. I want to tell senior Congress leaders to make Rahul Gandhi understand (to not give such statements)," he said.
Singh said two days after the Congress MP's speech, Australian newspaper 'Klexon' carried a report staying that during the clash in the Galwan Valley, "38 to 50 Chinese soldiers were killed".
"Our Indian armed forces epitomize bravery and we are proud of them," he added.
Speaking about the coastal state, where the BJP is seeking a fresh term in office, Singh said, "If all the three wings of the armed forces were told, Goa would have been liberated in 1947. Its liberation was delayed (Goa was liberated on December 19, 1961)." The senior BJP leader said his party has managed to tackle the "crisis of credibility" faced by Indian politics over the years.
"Some leaders had created this crisis. Whatever they used to promise, they never used to fulfil. If they had fulfilled their promises, India would have become a powerful country some 30-35 years back," he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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