Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and asked him to explain reports of road construction activity by China in Dokalam if he was done “thumping” his chest.
Gandhi’s comment comes a day after sources said China maintained a sizeable presence of troops near the site of the Dokalam standoff with India and had started widening a road, around 12 km from the area of conflict.
“Modiji, once you’re done thumping your chest, could you please explain this?” Gandhi tweeted, tagging a news report headlined, “With 500 Soldiers On Guard, China Expands Road In Doklam”. Gandhi tweeted the same message, not once but twice, in both English and Hindi.
Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Dokalam that began from June 16 over road construction activity at the India-Bhutan-China trijunction.
{{/usCountry}}Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Dokalam that began from June 16 over road construction activity at the India-Bhutan-China trijunction.
{{/usCountry}}The tension eased after talks between top officials of both the countries. On Thursday, army sources confirmed that the PLA was constructing a road in Chumbi valley but added that the area was under Chinese control and the development did not have strategic implications for India. Around 500 soldiers are present in the area where the road construction is being carried out.