Congress holding PM Modi responsible for Nehru's mistakes: Jaishankar on China issue

Mumbai: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said the Congress holds Prime Minister Narendra Modi accountable for the mistakes made by first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru when making comments on China while believing the party has no culpability for the past acts.

On Chinese belligerence in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, Jaishankar said Indian land was taken by China between 1958 and 1962, and some of it before 1958 as well.

Attacking Rahul Gandhi, Jaishankar said it is "very very sad" to "gun down your own forces". "When you keep saying land taken by China, it was lost in 1962. I see efforts made to mislead the country," he said in response to a question at a news conference here.

China and India have been witnessing an unease in ties, especially after the Galwan Valley incident of June 2020 when Chinese and Indian soldiers clashed, resulting in casualties on both sides. Since then India-China relations have been in an "abnormal state", with both sides amassing its troops along the LAC.

The External Affairs Minister said people are saying Chinese are building villages on the border, but it is in a place called Longju (along Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh), which the Chinese attacked and occupied in 1959. "If you look at the Google map, please look at that village and triangulate it with what Nehru said to the Parliament in 1959," Jaishankar said. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his party talk about a bridge being built by China in Pangong Tso in Ladakh but the bridge is being built at a place where the Chinese came in 1958 and then retook in 1962, Jaishankar asserted.

A Congress spokesperson recently said the Chinese have built a road in Shaksgam Valley and claimed this has created concerns for Siachen, the EAM said. "Possibly it has concerns for Siachen. Shaksgam Valley was allowed by Nehru to be part of POK and the Pakistanis handed it over to China in 1963. The Congress party is holding Modi responsible for Nehru's actions in 1949 and for (Pakistani premier Zulfikar Ali) Bhutto's actions in 1963 but apparently they (Congress) have no culpability," Jaishankar said.

The EAM admitted there is a challenge from China, which has violated bilateral agreements and sent a large number of troops to the border. But one should take pride in the fact that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, India counter deployed and sent a record number of troops to the border, he said. Those troops today are at a great height and in great cold and are defending the country in very tough conditions, Jaishankar pointed out.

"So when I hear Rahul Gandhi (say) our soldiers were beaten in Yangtse in Arunachal Pradesh (in 2022) when (in reality) we pushed back the Chinese. Gunning down your system, your forces is a very very sad thing," he added.