Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday asked ‘who is responsible for sending Indian soldiers unarmed to martyrdom’ as the Congress once again raised the violent face-off between Indian and Chinese troops that killed 20 Indian soldiers.
“China has committed a big crime by killing unarmed Indian soldiers. I want to ask who sent these bravehearts towards danger without arms and why. Who is responsible for this”, Mr. Gandhi asked in a video message.
In a tweet, he said, “How dare China kill our unarmed soldiers? Why were our soldiers sent unarmed to martyrdom”.
The tweet comes a day after he slammed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for ‘taking two days’ to condole the death of the Indian soldiers.
Addressing a press conference in Jaipur, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal and its chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the Ladakh face-off reflected the shortcomings of the Central government and the valour of the armed forces remained unquestioned.
“If Army protocol in the Line of Actual Control (LAC) did not allow troops to carry arms to the forward areas, why was there no armed back-up force available? And if they were available, why were they not used”, both asked.
Priyanka’s criticism
In a separate tweet, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attacked the Government of India’s weak policy towards China.
Citing a news report, she accused the government of ‘kneeling’ down before China by awarding a ₹1,126 crore contract for the Delhi-Meerut rapid rail to a Chinese company.
“Twenty of our soldiers have been martyred. In such a situation, the Central government should give a strong message. But it has adopted a weak strategy of kneeling down by handing over the contract of Delhi-Meerut semi high-speed rail corridor to a Chinese company. All Indian companies are also competent to build this corridor”, she said in a tweet in Hindi.