Why don't you show your 'red eyes' to China: Rahul Gandhi to PM Modi

The Congress on Tuesday took on the Narendra Modi government over Chinese incursions, saying an "image-conscious Prime Minister" is trying to maintain his image on a lie that the neighbour has not transgressed into Indian territory, but failing to look straight into China's eyes and holding them accountable.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted tagging a media report that said 'China is not going back, "Mr 56-inch, why don't you show red eyes?"

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His comments came as the 13th round of talks between India and China failed to make any headway in resolving the 17-month standoff in the remaining friction points in eastern Ladakh and Army chief General MM Naravane saying the build up on the other side of the border showed that China is going to stay.

Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that Modi has refrained from mentioning China by name as the aggressor and has said that 'not an inch of Indian territory had been ceded. Then the question is what was discussed at 13 rounds of military talks? he asked.

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"The Chinese have been brazenly entering Indian territory, while our soldiers at the borders are bravely countering them but this government and especially the Prime Minister is scared of even taking the name of China and holding them accountable...even the Army Chief of India said, ‘China is here to stay. Why are the Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Minister of External Affairs silent?" he further added.

Targeting Modi, Khera said that the Prime Minister gave an "irresponsible clean chit" to China saying nobody has entered the country or stayed here on 19 June 2020 and due to this statement, China is "emboldened today".

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"If our own Prime Minister gives a clean chit, obviously their confidence will grow. This government responded to Chinese aggression by banning some Apps. After the ban, the same government accepted money for PM-CARES. Then the government ensured that the trade was not impacted. You know trade is a weapon...You cannot have traded as usual but fight on the borders," Khera stated.

Recalling the 2013 Depsang episode, he said that the same theatres that saw a face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops during the UPA regime also but the "stark difference" was that then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was able to diffuse the situation within 21 days. "But today, it is almost a year and a half, but no resolution seems to be on the horizon, rather stalemates, build-ups and re-escalation are what one can see," he said.

Also Read |Congress attacks Modi govt over its 'failure' on national security front in J&K

He said that one cannot blame Modi and his Cabinet for being silent on this issue as the reason is simple. "They told the nation there was no transgression into Indian territory, and for an image-conscious Prime Minister, national security does not seem to be as important as maintaining his image, which was created on the premise of a lie," he said.

"Because of this strategy of denying that the People's Liberation Army had taken control of parts of Indian territory, we today face unfavourable settlements across Galwan, Gogra and Hot Spring. We cheaply had to give away our gains at Pangong South but the Government has not even been successful in bringing Beijing to the discussion table about PLA encroachments at Depsang," he added.

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