Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that not an inch of land has been lost in Ladakh was a lie after China in its newly released map claimed Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as its territory. India registered its protest to the claim as external affairs minister S Jaishankar said making such absurd claims is China’s old habit.
As Congress questioned New Delhi’s stand on China, Rahul Gandhi, who is visiting Karnataka to attend an event launching the Gruha Lakshmi scheme in Mysuru, said, “I have been saying for years that what the PM said that not one inch of land was lost in Ladakh, is a lie.”
“The entire Ladakh knows that China has transgressed. This map issue is very serious. They have taken away the land. PM should say something about it,” Rahul said.
China officially released the 2023 edition of its “standard map” on Monday, which showed the India’s state of Arunachal Pradesh along with the Aksai Chin region, which was occupied by China in the 1962 war, as part of its territory. The map also claimed Taiwan and the disputed South China areas.
The map’s release came days after the recent meeting between Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa, where the two leaders had agreed “to intensify efforts at expeditious disengagement and de-escalation at the LAC”.
China’s Xi Jinping will be attending the G20 Summit which is being hosted by India in the national capital from September 8-10.
Rahul Gandhi’s recent Ladakh visit
Gandhi, who recently visited Ladakh for the first time after revocation of Article 370, said that “China has taken away people’s land and they are not being allowed to graze their cattle”.
Visiting Pangong Lake in eastern Ladakh, Rahul said, “Over here, people are concerned over their land being taken away by China. People have been affected because their grazing lands have been taken away.”
To a query of Centre’s claims of no Chinese incursions and no land taken away by them, Rahul said, “People here say that Chinese forces entered and took their grazing land and (now) they can’t go there. The Prime Minister says that not an inch of land has been taken away, which is not correct…. ask anyone here and they will tell you”.
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