 "Rahul Gandhi, who is making his first visit to the United States as Leader of the Opposition, has already drawn the ire of the ruling BJP with his remarks over Sikhs and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). PTI")
Rahul Gandhi’s US trip has raked up controversy yet again.
The Congress leader at the National Press Club in Washington has claimed that China has occupied 4,000 square kilometres of Indian territory in Ladakh – land equivalent to the size of Delhi.
Rahul, who is making his first visit to the United States as Leader of the Opposition, has already drawn the ire of the ruling BJP with his remarks over Sikhs and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
India and China have amassed thousands of troops at the Ladakh border since 2020 when troops of the two armies clashed in the Galwan Valley.
Though India and China’s local commanders have held several rounds of talks, the troops remain embedded in key points such as Depsang and Demchok.
But what did Rahul say about Chinese troops? What does the Centre say? And are Chinese troops really occupying land the size of Delhi in Ladakh?
Let’s take a closer look:
What did Rahul say?
Rahul slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his China policy.
Hindustan Times quoted Rahul as saying, “If you call having Chinese troops in 4,000 square kilometres of our territory handling something well, then maybe we have got Chinese troops occupying land the size of Delhi in Ladakh. I think that’s a disaster."
“How would America react if a neighbour occupied 4000 square kilometres of your territory? Would any president be able to get away with saying that he’s handled that well? So I don’t think PM Modi handled China well at all. I think there’s no reason Chinese troops should be sitting in our territory,” he added.
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More ShortsRahul also addressed India’s relationship with China and the United States.
“China is our neighbour. We have a relationship with the United States. So, we are right in the middle of all this geopolitical change. We need a long-term strategic vision; it shouldn’t be just one tactical move after another. It should be, ‘OK, this is how we are thinking about it for the long term. This is the basic foundation, and we’re going to follow this path’,” Rahul said.
“From our perspective, the central elements of that vision must be democratic ideas—peace, nonviolence, cooperation, and harmony—values our freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi fought for. However, to do this properly, you need a very good sense of who you are and what your own nature is. That’s where I don’t agree with the current dispensation. When you imagine yourself to be something you are not, that’s when problems arise. India is a very plural country, an open country. India is not just one idea; India is multiple ideas. When you imagine yourself to be something you’re not, that’s when all your strategic problems begin,” Rahul added.
This isn’t the first time the Congress leader has made such an allegation.
Rahul on a nine-day visit to Ladakh last August had accused the prime minister of lying to the Opposition over the situation at the border.
“China has taken Indian land…thousands of square km…and ironically Indian Prime Minister said at a meeting with the Opposition that not an inch of Indian land was taken,” Rahul had said. “Here, every person knows that Ladakh’s land has been taken over by China but the Prime Minister is not telling the truth.’
Modi, addressing an all-party meet in June 2020, said “neither has anyone intruded into our territory nor taken over any post.”
What does Centre say?
The Centre has repeatedly dismissed Rahul’s claim.
Ladakh’s Lieutenant Governor BD Mishra on Monday said not even an inch of land in Ladakh has been taken by China.
“I won’t comment on anybody’s statement. But I will say what is fact because I have seen myself on the ground that not even one square inch of land which the Chinese have occupied,” Mishra, attending an Indian Army organized conference in Jammu, said.
“Whatsoever happened in 1962 that is immaterial. But today we are in occupation of our land to the last inch,” he added.
“Our armed forces are prepared for any eventuality, and God forbid if the balloon goes up, people will get a bloody nose from us.”
In April, a number of senior government officials including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and S Jaishankar all rebuffed Rahul’s claim.
Shah, the Union home minister, speaking at a rally in northeastern Assam’s Lakhimpur, slammed ex-prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
“When China attacked, Nehru said bye-bye to Assam. Entire Arunachal and Assam can never forget 1962. What is the change now? Under the Narendra Modi government, China could not grab even an inch of our land. Modiji has ensured such governance,” Shah said as per The Hindu.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh also denied this, though slightly less effusively.
“I don’t think so,” Rajnath was quoted as saying by Business Today when asked if the Peoples Liberation Army had claimed Indian land along the Line of Actual Control.
However, Rajnath did add that India and China had issues ranging back to 2013 that needed to be sorted out.
“Commander-level talks are going on between India and China. There are some issues, some date back to 2013, which need to be resolved. India and China are holding talks with the belief that we will reach a resolution,” Singh told ANI.
Rajnath also responded to P Chidambaram’s remark that China had taken 2,000 square kilometres of India’s territory.
“I can only wonder that the Congress government can do this. I wouldn’t like to comment on what happened under their rule, how many 1000 square kilometres of the land went into Chinese possession,” he said.
“But, I want to assure the countrymen that under PM Modi-led government, no one can capture even an inch of our land and we won’t cede even an inch of our land,” the defence minister added.
Jaishankar, the external affairs minister, was quoted as saying by Indian Express that though China has not taken any of India’s land, the situation at the border remains “competitive, sensitive and challenging.”
Jaishankar said China pushed forward troops along the LAC in 2020.
“In response, we also advanced our units and a standoff ensued,” Jaishankar added. “After that, the two armies continue to battle for supremacy… But there is no encroachment.”
“China has tried to bring its troops to the upper part of the mountainous areas along the LAC [Line of Actual Control] but the Indian Army also responded to it in the same manner.”
Are Chinese troops really occupying land in Ladakh?
That remains the question.
Scroll quoted a January 2023 quoted a senior officer in Leh as writing in a research paper showed India no longer patrol 26 of 65 locations in eastern Ladakh.
Leh Senior Superintendent of Police PD Nitya claimed that Indian security forces could no longer access 26 patrolling points between the Karakoram Pass and the Chumur region.
As per Frontline, Nitya submitted the paper at a DGP conference in New Delhi.
Modi, Shah and National Security Adviser were all present at the meet.
As per the outlet, Manoj Joshi in his book Understanding the India-China Border: The Enduring Threat of War in High Himalaya assessed that India had lost control of around 2,000 square kilometres in the border areas.
Nitya further wrote that the army had placed checkpoints at Daulat Beg Oldi and even stopped civilian officials from coming to the pass because the PLA had placed powerful cameras on the pass.
“They would immediately raise objections on the movement from the Indian side if not informed beforehand,” Nitya wrote.
Nitya claimed this approach “has affected our assertiveness and areas which were much accessible from our side became an informal ‘buffer’ zone”.
Meanwhile, a US department of defence report in October 2023 claimed that China has kept constructing large-scale military infrastructure along the LAC in 2022.
Former Ladakh councillor Namgyal Durbuk told The Guardian in 2020 that he has spent the last few decades seeing Indian land snatched up by China.
“The Indian government is lying that there is no land capture by China,” Durbuk said. “Our vast green pastures, where local herders used take their cattle, have been taken over. A number of locals have been forced by this situation to sell their cattle and move towards urban settlements for their livelihood.”
“The villagers are scared by the presence of the Chinese forces. They are so close they can even see their lights in the night for the first time,” Durbuk added.
With inputs from agencies