Irresponsible: Rajnath on Rahul’s China comment

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday termed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s claims that China was sitting in India’s territory “false” saying the words attributed to Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi “were never spoken by the officer at any point in time”.

Participating in a discussion on the President’s Address during the Budget session in the Lok Sabha on Monday, Rahul had said the “Prime Minister was denying that the Chinese were inside India’s territory while the Army Chief was contradicting him”.

In a post on X, Rajnath said, “Rahul made false allegations about the Army Chief’s statement on the India-China border situation.” Rajnath said Rahul “indulging in irresponsible politics on matters of national interest.”

He said the Army Chief’s remarks, made on January 13 at a press conference, referred only to the disturbance of traditional patrolling by both sides. “He (the Army Chief) also mentioned that these practices have been restored to their traditional pattern as part of the recent disengagement,” said the minister.