Target China in Galwan Valley rather than aim at Congress: Adhir to govt

Chowdhury claimed China was taking advantage of the Modi government's "indecision" over retaliation

Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Friday asked the government to prepare to hit back at China and recapture the territory lost in the Galwan valley instead of targeting the main opposition party to hide its own "strategic blunders".

He claimed China was taking advantage of the Modi government's "indecision" over retaliation.

Chowdhury also dared the BJP leadership to substantiate its charge that the Congress party had ever compromised national security, and said he will resign as MP if the allegations are proved.

"The BJP, to hide its own failures, its own Himalayan strategic blunders, is targeting the Congress. The BJP leadership has complete disregard for history, or else they would have never said that Congress compromised national security.

"It was the Congress led by Indira Gandhi which snatched away Siachen in 1984 by conducting operation Meghdoot, it was Congress which broke Pakistan and created Bangladesh in 1971," Chowdhury said in a video message.

Demanding that the BJP leadership, including Defence minister Rajnath Singh, furnish proof that the Congress had compromised national security, Chowdhury said," I challenge them to prove it. If the allegations can be established, I will resign as an MP."

In the midst of the ongoing war of words over the Sino-India standoff in eastern Ladakh, BJP chief J P Nadda had on Thursday alleged that the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation (RGF) had accepted $300,000 from China and the Chinese embassy in 2005 -06 for conducting studies that were not in the national interest.

The Congress, however, dismissed the allegation as an attempt to divert the attention of the country from issues of national security.

The BJP has also alleged that the previous Congress governments signed pacts with China in utter disregard for national security.

Criticising the Modi government for alleged lack of political will to take on China and recover the lost territory, Chowdhury said, do or die should be the national mantra and only counter-violence can teach China a much-needed lesson.

"Do or Die is our National Mantra. In a changed situation, it needs to be accompanied by counter-violence, we have to prove that China is an international rogue and never ever be invincible.," Chowdhury said in a tweet.

"The situation across Indo-China boundary is grim, our options are being tapered off. China took the opportunity of India's indecision, Hit back China, Hit Hit Hit back the Dragon who wants India to be dragooned into submission," he said in another tweet.

Twenty Indian Army personnel including a colonel were killed in a clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on the night of June 15 in the biggest military confrontation between the two countries in over five decades.