Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted another video message on China.
Highlights
- Rahul Gandhi has been targeting government relentlessly over China issue
- "The Chinese have occupied Indian land," he tweeted today
- "As an Indian, my number one priority is the nation, its people," he said
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been targeting the government after June 15 clash with China in Ladakh that killed 20 Indian soldiers in the line of duty, today sharpened his attack over the issue. "I do not mind if my whole career goes to hell, but I am not going to lie about the Indian territory," Mr Gandhi says in a video he shared on Twitter, apparently referring to those who have criticised his comments on the border issue.
"The Chinese have occupied Indian land. Hiding the truth and allowing them to take it is anti-national. Bringing it to people's attention is patriotic (sic)," the 50-year-old ex-Congress chief wrote on Twitter this morning and shared a video message.
In the video message, the Congress MP from Kerala's Wayanad is heard saying: "As an Indian, my number one priority is the nation and its people. Now it's pretty clear that the Chinese have entered our territory. It disturbs me... it makes my blood boil. How can some other nation just come into our territory?"
"If you as a politician want me to keep quiet and lie to my people... when I have seen the satellite photos... I speak to army people... If you want me to lie that Chinese have not entered the country, I simply am not going to do it. I don't mind even if my career goes to hell. I think the people who are lying about the Chinese not entering our country are the people who are not nationalists... they are not patriotic," he further says in an apparent dig at his critics.
He concludes the message by saying: "I don't care if I don't have a political career after that but I am going to say the truth as far as the India territory is concerned."
The ruling BJP hit back with a retort. "Your political career ended soon after it took off. The people of this country don't see him has any leader. It ended in 2019, and now, you are determined to kill the future of the Congress party," BJP MP and national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said.
Amid relentless attacks by Mr Gandhi, the ruling BJP last week slammed his party saying the Congress will become a "party of tweets". "Rahul Gandhi is tweeting on a daily basis. It seems the Congress will become a party of tweets as they are doing no work among the people and losing one leader after another. A frustrated and depressed party is trying to launch all sorts of attacks on the government," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.
Last month, the government had dismissed attacks by the opposition parties and said that "attempts are being made to give a mischievous interpretation" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments on China at an all-party meeting.
"At a time when our brave soldiers are defending our borders, it is unfortunate that an unnecessary controversy is being created to lower their morale. However, the predominant sentiment at the All Party Meeting was of unequivocal support to the Government and the armed forces at a time of national crisis. We are confident that the unity of the Indian people will not be undermined by motivated propaganda," it said in the statement.
The centre's postscript on the comments by PM Modi came amid criticism by the opposition that the government hasn't fully explained the situation along the LAC that eventually led to the violent face-off.