After Jaishankar declined to predict when LAC stand-off would end, Rajnath says Indian Army forced Chinese PLA to 'go back'

The talks between the diplomats and the senior military commanders of India and China in fact hit an impasse once again on November 6

The Indian Army soldiers fought the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel with “utmost bravery” on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and forced them to “go back”, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday.

He made the remark while speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). “There is a big build-up of Armed Forces at the LAC in Ladakh. In these testing times, our forces have shown exemplary courage and remarkable fortitude. They fought the PLA with utmost bravery and forced them to go back,” he said, even as his cabinet colleague External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had reiterated recently that the communist country had flouted bilateral agreements and deployed a large number troops along the LAC, resulting in the stand-off, which could not be resolved so far.

“The coming generations of this nation will be proud of what our forces have managed to achieve this year,” the defence minister said.

Singh, however, did not clarify where the Chinese PLA soldiers had been forced to go back from. Jaishankar, who had addressed the FICCI meet last Saturday, had declined to predict when the seven-month-long military stand-off between India and China could be resolved.

Also read — Unprovoked aggression in Ladakh reminder of how the world is changing, says Rajnath Singh

The talks between the diplomats and the senior military commanders of India and China in fact hit an impasse once again. The senior commanders of the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA had held the eighth round of talks on November 6 but had failed to agree on a plan for a mutual withdrawal of troops from the face-off points along the LAC. The two sides had agreed to have another round of meetings soon. But neither the military commanders nor the diplomats of the two nations had any engagement in the past four weeks to end the stand-off.

“Whenever there is a situation at the LAC, the most obvious outcome is a comparison between military strength of India and China,” Singh said on Monday, adding: “There can be a serious debate on who owns more military might but when it comes to soft power there is no scope of ambiguity. India is far ahead of China when it comes to leading the world with ideas”.

Also read — LAC stand-off: Signs of stalemate in India-China talks again, Jaishankar says ties in 'most difficult phase'

The stand-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA had started with the communist country’s aggressive moves along the LAC – the de facto boundary between the two nations in the western sector – in late April and early May.

It had reached a flashpoint when the soldiers of the two sides had a violent face-off at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on June 15. The Indian Army had lost 20 of its soldiers. The PLA too had suffered casualties but had never made public the number of its personnel killed or injured in the clash.

The prime minister on June 19 had held a meeting with the leaders of a number of political parties on the clash between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA. “Nobody is inside our territory, nor are any of our posts in anyone’s possession,” he had told the leaders of the political parties. The opposition leaders, a section of military veterans and strategic affairs analysts had criticized the Prime Minister for stating that no intrusion by the Chinese PLA into the territory of India had taken place.

The defence minister on Monday also said that the international community had now realized that India’s allegation about the export of terrorism from Pakistan was based on facts.

“We have been victims of cross-border terrorism, yet have fought the scourge alone, even when there was no one to support us. But later, they understood we were right about Pakistan being the fountainhead of terrorism,” Singh said. “And now again our brave forces are there in the forefront fighting icy winds to guard our borders and to fulfil their responsibility,” he added, apparently referring to the deployment by the Indian Army in eastern Ladakh to counter the Chinese PLA’s move to push the LAC westwards.