'This is not India of 1962', Anurag Thakur hits out at Rahul Gandhi over latter's China comments

Thakur said during the UPA regime the then government did not empower the armed forces with bulletproof jackets or Rafale fighter jets

Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday accused Rahul Gandhi of "spreading fear" in the name of China and wondered whether the opposition leader had lost faith in the armed forces.

Slamming Gandhi for his remarks that the Chinese "were beating our soldiers", Thakur said the former Congress president was busy "having soup" with the Chinese when Indian soldiers were fighting Chinese jawans at Doklam.

"These people have the habit of spreading fear in the name of China. But this is not the India of 1962, this is the India of 2014. India is moving ahead under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Thakur said.

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He said during the UPA regime the then government did not empower the armed forces with bulletproof jackets or Rafale fighter jets. "More than 300 defence items are being made in India today. India is now an exporter of defence equipment and not an importer anymore. This is 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat'," he said.

Gandhi had alleged on Friday that while China was preparing for war, the Indian government was "asleep" and trying to ignore the threat. Addressing a press conference in Jaipur, Gandhi alleged that China had taken away 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory, killed 20 Indian soldiers, and was "beating our jawans in Arunachal Pradesh".