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Rajnath slams Rahul Gandhi over China-Pakistan remarks
Says Congress leader distorted facts and wrongly accused BJP-led central govt’s foreign policies for bringing all-weather allies together
Keeping up the government’s attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after his recent remarks in Parliament in which he had alleged that the foreign policy decisions of the BJP-led central government have brought all-weather allies China and Pakistan together against India, defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday reminded the Congress leader of two illegal occupations in international territory during his great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru and grandmother Indira Gandhi’s tenure as Prime Ministers.
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Rajnath Singh was in Punjab to campaign for BJP’s Dasuya candidate Raghunath Singh Rana on Friday. Accompanied by Union minister Som Prakash, senior BJP leader Avinash Rai Khanna, the defence minister said: “There are some powers who speak whatever comes to their mind. Does Rahul not know history? Pakistan handed over the Shaksgam Valley to China and at that time Nehru was the Prime Minister of India. Not only that, the Karakoram highway was constructed in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir when the Prime Minister of India was not from the BJP but Indira Gandhi of the Congress. And you (Rahul) say that Pakistan and China came closer due to BJP’s wrong foreign policies? Work on the China and Pakistan economic corridor began during the Congress rule.”
Addressing the function, Rajnath Singh said: “I will seek an apology from my Congress friends. Whatever Rahul Gandhi said on the floor of Parliament has deeply hurt us. He has tried to distort historic facts and wrongly accused the BJP-led central government.”
Targets Rahul on meeting with Chinese envoy
Rajnath Singh said that Indian soldiers had made the supreme sacrifice in the Galwan Valley and thwarted the designs of the Chinese army. “Our soldiers laid down their lives but didn’t let China occupy an inch of India’s land. He (Rahul) had said that India lost more soldiers, while only four soldiers of China lost their lives in Galwan. Would you believe China’s official newspaper Global Times? Now, a leading Australian paper has reported that China reported 38-40 casualties. When our jawans were fighting Chinese soldiers in Galwan, you (Rahul) were busy meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Delhi,” Singh said.
He said that India has neither attacked any country nor has it occupied an inch of territory of any country that is less powerful than it. “We are emerging as a world power just for the welfare of the world,” he said.
Many trying to disturb communal harmony
Paying tributes to the sacrifices of soldiers as a large number are from Hoshiarpur district of which Dasuya is a constituency, Rajnath Singh said that there were many powers of the world attempting to disturb communal harmony in Punjab but we must remember Guru Nanak’s teachings. “We have a Sikh regiment in our army and its courage is inspiring. As compared to its population, Sikhs have made the maximum sacrifices for the country, including in the army,” he said.
He urged the people to support the National Democratic Alliance, including the BJP, Punjab Lok Congress of Captain Amarinder Singh and Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) of Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had repealed the three farm laws and also offered an apology to the farmers for failing to convince them about the benefits of the new laws.
On the Aam Aadmi Party, he said: “There are slogans about AAP in Punjab, but why not Punjabi in Punjab? See how they are running the government in Delhi. They only focus on advertisements and freebies.”
He called for strict punishment against perpetrators of the sacrilege incidents in Punjab.
