Rahul Gandhi tweeted two questions for PM Modi this morning.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi this morning tweeted two questions for the government, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an all-party meeting to discuss the India-China clash at Ladakh on Monday in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed. "Why were our soldiers killed?" he asked after PM Modi on Friday asserted that "neither is anyone inside our territory nor is any of our post captured".
"PM has surrendered Indian territory to Chinese aggression. If the land was Chinese: 1. Why were our soldiers killed? 2. Where were they killed?" the 50-year-old Congress MP from Kerala's Wayanad tweeted.
On Friday, PM Modi said at the all-party meeting: "Neither is anyone inside our territory nor is any of our post captured. India wants peace and friendship, but upholding sovereignty is foremost."
"Twenty of our brave soldiers made the supreme sacrifice for the nation in Ladakh but also taught a lesson to those who had dared to look towards our motherland. The nation will forever remember their valour and sacrifice," he said, adding that the "entire country is hurt and angry at the steps taken by China at LAC (Line of Actual Control)".
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray were some of the leaders who attended the meeting via video conferencing.
"Even at this late stage, we are still in the dark about many crucial aspects of the crisis," Sonia Gandhi was quoted as saying in an official statement as she raised several questions for the government on Friday at the meet.
Asserting that the all-party meeting "should have come sooner and immediately after the government had been reportedly informed about the Chinese intrusion on May 5 into several places in Ladakh," the Congress chief asked: "We have some specific questions, for the government: On which date did the Chinese troops intrude into our territory in Ladakh? When did the government find out about the Chinese transgressions into our territory? Was it on May 5, as reported, or earlier? Does the government not receive, on a regular basis, satellite pictures of the borders of our country?"
"In the government's considered view, was there a failure of intelligence?" Sonia Gandhi further asked.
The country "would like an assurance that status quo would be restored and China will revert back to the original position on Line of Actual Control", she had said in her opening remarks.