Amid a stand-off between India and China, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi yesterday again attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Citing news reports, the opposition leader said in a tweet: “China killed our soldiers. China took our land. Then, why is China praising Mr Modi during this conflict?”
The former Congress president cited reports from Chinese newspapers on Modi’s statement at an all-party meeting last week.
The prime minister reportedly said at the meeting that no intrusion into India has taken place, a statement which was later clarified by his office as “mischievous interpretation”.
Gandhi also paid glowing tributes to the 20 soldiers who died, saying India will never forget their sacrifices.
“Tribute to our brothers. You gave up everything for us. We will never forget these sacrifices,” Gandhi said in a tweet attaching a video of all the Indian soldiers killed in Galwan Valley.
Former prime minister and Congress veteran Manmohan Singh also criticised Modi.
“The prime minister cannot allow them to use his words as a vindication of their position and must ensure that all organs of the government work together to tackle this crisis and prevent it from escalating further,” Singh said.
“We remind the government that disinformation is no substitute for diplomacy or decisive leadership. The truth cannot be suppressed by having pliant allies spout comforting but false statements.”
Singh said the prime minister should be “mindful” of the implications of his words.
The Congress also hit back at Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda who accused the former prime minister of surrendering Indian territory to China.
The opposition party challenged Nadda to raise questions about Chinese transgressions during the BJP rule.
Party spokesman Randeep Surjewala in a tweet told Nadda: “Please show courage to ask Modi government about 2,264 Chinese transgressions since 2015, martyrdom of 471 jawans & 253 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir alone, highest in 30 years.”
“Don’t buckle down, have the strength to ‘rise to the occasion’. We’ll give the Govt every support,” Surjewala said, casting aspersion on the government’s moves to tackle China.
The onslaught on Modi is a well thought out strategy designed to put Gandhi at centre stage on an issue of national importance, a party source said. 
Gandhi has already been able to successfully corner the government on the issue of Covid-19, raising the red flag as early as February 12.
The Congress Twitter handle said: “The Govt has the full support of the people but it must come clean as to why they haven’t yet aggressively refuted China’s absurd claims of control over Galwan Valley and when will martyrs get justice.”
Earlier Nadda attacked the former prime minister.
“One only wishes that Dr Singh was as worried about Chinese designs when, as PM, he abjectly surrendered hundreds of square kilometres of India’s land to China. He presided over 600 incursions made by China between 2010 to 2013!” said Nadda.
He said “Dr Manmohan Singh belongs to the same party which helplessly surrendered over 43,000km of Indian territory to the Chinese!”
Nadda also slammed the Congress for insulting the armed forces and also reminded it of questioning the valour of the forces by questioning the Balakot air strike in 2019 and Uri surgical strike in 2017. 
“Dear Dr Singh and Congress party, please stop insulting our forces repeatedly, questioning their valour. You did this post the air strikes and surgical strikes. Please understand the true meaning of national unity, especially in such times. It’s never too late to improve.”
Related Story