Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Dec 17: Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that any amount of appreciation for the military services’ valour and bravery during the fighting in the Galwan valley and the most recent confrontation in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector is insufficient.
The defence minister made his remarks during a speech at the industry association FICCI after Rahul Gandhi accused the central government of downplaying the threat presented by China along the Line of Actual Control and claimed it was “asleep” and unprepared to accept the reality.
“Any amount of praise is not enough for the armed forces the way they displayed bravery and valour, be it in Galwan or Tawang,” he said.
Indirectly criticising Gandhi for “doubting” the government’s intentions in addressing the border dispute with China, the defence minister added that politics cannot be conducted on the basis of “falsehood.”
“We have never questioned the intention of any leader in the opposition, we have only debated on the basis of policies. Politics should be based on truth. Politics cannot be done on the basis of falsehood for a long time,” he said without taking any names.
“The process of taking the society towards the right path is called ‘rajniti’ (politics). I do not understand the reason behind doubting anyone’s intention always,” Rajnath Singh added.
On December 9, Indian and Chinese troops clashed once more in the Yangtse region of Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector, the first significant escalation since June 2020’s deadly hand-to-hand fighting in the Galwan Valley, which was the most significant military conflict between the two sides in decades.
As a barely veiled allusion to China’s border aggression, Singh also stated that India wishes to become a powerhouse for the benefit of the entire world and that it has no intention of seizing even a single inch of land from any nation.
“When I am saying we aspire to become a superpower, it should never be construed that we want to dominate over countries in the world. We do not have any intention to even capture one inch of the land of any country,” he said.
“If we want to become a superpower, then we want to become a superpower for global good and prosperity. The world is our family,” Singh added.
