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Uttar Pradesh polls: Rahul trusts Chinese media more than our army, says Rajnath
Praising the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, the defence minister said the law and order situation in the state had improved
Keeping up his attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his recent speech in Parliament, defence minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday accused him of “trusting the Chinese more than the valour of the Indian Army” .
His comments were on the death toll from the clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers in Galwan Valley in June 2020.
Speaking in Parliament earlier this week, Gandhi had said the Bharatiya Janata Party led government’s policies had caused China and Pakistan to come closer against India.
Singh spoke on Saturday at public meetings in support of BJP assembly election candidates in Agra and Mathura.
“Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had stated that in the Galwan clash, Indian army suffered more casualties while only few Chinese army men were killed. He (Rahul Gandhi) trusted more on reports of state supported Chinese media Global Times, but had less trust on the valour of the Indian Army. This seems to be very unusual,” Singh said at an election rally in Baldeo constituency in Mathura.
“The Australian media proved the Indian version correct and recently informed that at least 38 to 50 Chinese defence personnel were killed in the June 2020 Galwan clash in the eastern Ladakh sector,” he said.
The defence minister was referring to a report earlier this month in Australian newspaper The Klaxon, which claimed China had underreported the casualties.
“Things have changed under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and now, the world listens to what India says. Earlier, India was not taken that seriously... In Uri and Pulwama, our jawans were killed in cross border terrorism. We took a quick decision, crossed the border and gave a message to the world that if it concerns our defence, India is capable of not only defending its border, but can also attack,” Singh said.
“We have given a message to the world that India is not a weak nation now. We can cross the border and attack. As the defence minister of India, I am of the firm belief that no one can attack the pride of India,” he added.
Praising the Yogi Adityanath government in UP, Singh said the law and order situation in the state had improved.
“Criminals are running away, the properties of Mafiosi are being demolished. UP is on the path of progress. Expressways are coming up, roads are being built to connect tehsils and block headquarters,” Singh said.
He then trained his guns on the Samajwadi Party (SP) and said it practices appeasement politics and looks for religion-based politics. “Politics is for making society and nation; not only for making government. Politics should be for justice and growth. We believe in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is a family). The BJP is not going to accept politics based on division,” he said.
If other parties had complied with the promises made by leaders like Syama Prasad Mookerjee, India would have been a different nation, Singh said.
“Syama Prasad Mookerjee, in the 1951 election, promised in the manifesto of Jan Sangh to end Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, but we could not get majority in Parliament. Once we got the majority, we abolished Article 370 in the Modi regime,” said Singh.
He also touched upon the contentious issue of minimum support price (MSP) for crops.“Much discussion is going on in this election about MSP. I can assure that BJP regime is committed to it. Do not fall for false propaganda on the MSP issue because sufficient provision has been made in the budget for it,” he said.
Reacting to Singh’s comments, Uttar Pradesh congress committee vice president Pankaj Srivastava said it was unfortunate that even the defence minister was not ready to understand the issue of threat from China. Singh was not serious about the China issue, Srivatsava alleged.
