On July 17, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi released a video of him explaining about why the Chinese chose to violate the LAC at this point of time.
https://twitter.com/RahulGandhi/status/1284002386806095872
He begins by saying that a country protected by its foreign relations, neighbourhood, economy and the vision that its people have. Rahul Gandhi says that India’s foreign policy, neighbourhood policy and economic policy for the last 6 years has failed which the Chinese have taken advantage of.
He notes that India which had a strategic partnership with USA now has a ‘transactional relationship’ with the USA. He makes the same observation about India’s relationship with Europe. He goes on to say that India has ‘disturbed the relationship with Russians’.
Coming to countries closer home, he says that India had friendly relations with countries other than Pakistan. He says that countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, etc was working with India.
“Today Nepal is angry with us.. You speak to the Nepali people.. They are furious with what has happened. Sri Lanka has given a port to the Chinese. Maldives is disturbed. Bhutan is disturbed. So.. We have disrupted our foreign partners, we have disrupted our neighbourhood” he says.
He then goes on to make some observations about the economy saying that Indian economy which was once a pride has now turned into an absolute disaster.
“Our strengths have suddenly become our weaknesses”. He is said to have told the government to “inject money for God’s sake” to “fire” the economy and protect the small and medium businesses but the government refused to do it.
“Today you have a country which is economically in trouble, in trouble with its foreign policy and neighbours and that is why the Chinese decided that this is possibly the best time to act and that is why they acted.”, Rahul Gandhi says.
In a sharp and stinging rebuttal, Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar shot down the claims made by Rahul Gandhi armed with some facts on his side. At the end of every point, he asked Rahul Gandhi to ask the relevant stakeholder about the points made.
He said that India’s major partnerships with countries like USA, Russia, Europe and Japan have grown stronger and India’s international standing has gone higher with regular summits and informal meetings. He noted that India now engages China on more equal terms politically. To this point, Dr. Jaishankar asked Gandhi to ask the analysts about it.
In the next point, he said that India now speaks its mind more openly be it on issues like CPEC, BRI or on South China Sea and UN sanctioned terrorists. “Ask the media”, Dr. Jaishankar said to Rahul Gandhi.
Pointing out the border infrastructure imbalance legacy during the Congress regime, Dr. Jaishankar said that budget for development of border infrastructure from 2014 to 2020 has gone up by 280% with 32% more roads, 99% more bridges and 6 times the tunnels. “Ask the Jawans”, he said.
He also pointed out that the Hambantota port agreement between Sri Lanka and China concluded in 2008 (when Congress-led UPA was in power). “Ask those who dealt with it.”
About Maldives, Dr. Jaishankar said that difficult ties with Maldives was due to the India watching President Nasheed getting toppled in 2012 (when Congress-led UPA II was in power) which now stands transformed. “Ask our businesses”, Dr. Jaishankar said.
With respect to Bangladesh, Dr. Jaishankar said that land boundary settlement that was pending for decades saw it completion only 2015. He said that this has now led to more development and transit and terrorists no longer find safe haven there. “Ask our security”. Dr. Jaishankar said.
Nepal he said was getting Prime Ministerial visits after 17 years with a swathe of development projects on in full swing. “Ask their citizens”, said Dr. Jaishankar.
“Bhutan finds a stronger security and development partner. And unlike 2013, they don’t worry about their cooking gas.” Dr. Jaishankar told Rahul Gandhi to ask their households.
On Afghanistan, Dr. Jaishankar said that the country saw completion of several projects like Salma Dan, Afghan Parliament building, training to Afghan security forces and connectivity. “Ask the Afghan street”, Minister Jaishankar said.
“And Pakistan (that you skipped) surely notes the difference between Balakot & Uri on the one hand, and Sharm-el-Sheikh, Havana & 26/11 on the other. Ask yourself.” Dr. Jaishankar told Rahul Gandhi.
This is not the first time Dr. Jaishankar has given a rebuttal to Rahul Gandhi. Earlier in June, Dr. Jaishankar schooled Rahul Gandhi when he had put out a video with the caption “How dare China kill our UNARMED soldiers? Why were our soldiers sent UNARMED to martyrdom?”
Dr. Jaishankar told Rahul Gandhi to get his facts right saying “All troops on border duty always carry arms, especially when leaving post” and those at Galwan valley too did on June 15. He said that it had been a long standing practice as per the 1996 and 2005 agreements not to use firearms during faceoff.
