Rahul slams govt over China, US tariff issues
New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday claimed that China had taken over 4,000 square kilometres of Indian territory and that reciprocal tariffs or import duties imposed by the US would “completely devastate” the Indian economy, as he demanded answers from the government over these issues.
The BJP hit back at Gandhi over his remarks during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, saying “not an inch of land” had been given to China under BJP rule, and it was under Congress rule that China had occupied Indian territory.
The ruling party also said it is the country’s good fortune that the PM of this country is Narendra Modi before whom the world bows.
Speaking during the Zero Hour, Gandhi slammed the government over the celebration of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties by India and China.
“China is sitting on 4,000 square kilometre of our territory. I was shocked some time back to see that our foreign secretary (Vikram Misri) was cutting a cake with the Chinese ambassador. The question is -- what exactly is happening to this territory of 4,000 sq km that China has taken?” the former Congress president said.
Referring to the Galwan incident, Gandhi said 20 jawans were martyred in 2020.
“There is a celebration taking place over their martyrdom by cutting a cake. We are not against normalcy but there should be status quo before that. We should get our land back. It has also come to my notice that the President and the Prime Minister have written to the Chinese,” he said.
“We are not finding this out from our own people, it is the Chinese ambassador who is telling the people of India that the PM and the President have written to them,” Gandhi said.
He said foreign policy is about managing external countries and pointed out that on one hand, “you have given China 4,000 sq km of our land”, and on the other hand our ally US has suddenly decided to impose tariffs on us.
He said the tariffs imposed by the US are going to “completely devastate” the Indian economy, particularly sectors like the auto industry, pharmaceuticals and agriculture.
“Somebody once asked Indira Gandhi ji-- ‘In the matter of foreign policy you lean left or you lean right’, and Indira Gandhi ji answered ‘I don’t lean left or right, I stand straight. I am Indian and I stand straight’.
“The BJP and the RSS have a different philosophy, when they are asked whether they lean left or the right, they say ‘no, no, no, we bow our head in front of every foreigner that comes in front of us. This is something that is in their culture, in their history, we know that,” Gandhi said.
