BJP feels sting of Congress' 'surrender' jibe towards PM Narendra Modi

Stung by Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Surender (Surrender) Modi jibe BJP on Tuesday reasserted that “India has not surrendered an inch of its land” during the current stand-off at the LAC and accused the Opposition party of drawing “sadistic pleasures” during times of misfortunes.

“Every Congressman should hear this with both ears open that India has not surrendered an inch of its land, but Congress has surrendered its shame. There has been no capture by China on our land (hamare desh par China ne koi kabja nahin kiya hai). If there has been capture, it has been perhaps on the heart of mother and son (kabja hua hai ma-beta ke man par) after the MoU on 2008,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.

Follow live updates on the India-China border tensions here

BJP has sought to turn the table on the Congress on the issue of “surrender of land” by alleging that 43,000 kilometres of Indian land was captured by China during the tenure of Congress and accused former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of presiding over 600 Chinese incursions.

The aggressive BJP campaign to put the Congress in dock comes at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ remarks at the all-party meeting that “neither anyone has entered our territory, nor anybody is inside our territory, nor is any of our post captured” has kicked up a storm. Later the PMO issued a clarification.

Congress has seized on the remarks, seeking to pay back the government in the same measure as the latter had done to it in the past over Sam Pitroda’s “Hua to Hua” remark in response to a question on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots made before 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

BJP is keen to do everything to ensure that the “surrender” jibe of Rahul does not get the traction like his earlier “suit boot ki Sarkar” jibe against the PM, which the Congress President had taken up latching on to the Modi’s “pin striped suit” in 2015, a jibe which had also used to corner the government on its controversial land bill, alleging that the government cares only for corporates and not the poor.

It remains to be seen whether the BJP manages to turn the table this time on the Congress like had it done prior to 2019 by countering the Congress’ “Chowkidar Chor Hai’ campaign with an electrifying “Main Bhi Chowkidar” campaign that appealed to the poor or the “surrender” campaign manages to dent NDA’s nationalistic electoral pitch like the “suit boot ki sarkar” campaign in 2015 had done, forcing a number of course corrections by the government including withdrawal of the controversial land bill and renaming of the Agriculture Ministry as Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.

By repeatedly raking up the 1962 Indo-China war, Modi govt tried to take the wind out of Congress campaign. With 1962 being a thing of distant past and yielding as much traction especially with the young voters, the party is now dusting off a 2008 between to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the party and the Communist Party of China in 2008.

BJP chief JP Nadda tweeted “first, Congress signs MoU with Chinese Communist Party. Then, Congress surrenders land to China. During the Doklam issue, Rahul Gandhi secretly goes to Chinese embassy. During crucial situations, Rahul Gandhi tries to divide the nation & demoralise armed forces. Effects of MoU?

Tagging what he called a “timeline” under the caption “"Then story of an MoU and its effects", Nadda went on to allege that that right after the signing of the MU in 2008, the Chinese army occupied 640 square kms in three Ladakh sectors and also flagged that Rahul had in 2017 also met met the Chinese envoy during the Doklam crisis".

Drawing the allegory of a popular television serial “Saas Bahu aur Saazish,” Patra said while this is aired in the noon, If you switch on the television at 9 AM in the morning you see maan beta aur saazish, maa beta aur China”. He was alluding to Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul.

“The Congress party should not use the misfortunes falling on our country like Corona or even stand-off with China as a re-launching pad of falling career of Congress clown prince Rahul Gandhi,” he further said in remarks that came on a day the Congress Working Committee slammed the government on its handling of the LAC issue, alleging that Modi's wrong policies led to the China crisis.