Have Chinese Occupied Indian Territory? Rahul Gandhi Asks Rajnath

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, 9 June, questioned Defence Minister Rajnath Singh over the alleged presence of Chinese troops in Ladakh. “Once RM is done commenting on the hand symbol, can he answer: Have the Chinese occupied Indian territory in Ladakh?” Gandhi said on Twitter.

Once RM is done commenting on the hand symbol, can he answer:

Have the Chinese occupied Indian territory in Ladakh?

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 9, 2020

The tweet is the latest in a war of words between the two leaders on social media. It began on Monday, when Gandhi put out a tweet alluding to the India-China standoff Ladakh. He posted an improvisation of Urdu-Persian poet Mirza Ghalib’s words “Everyone knows the reality of ‘Seema’ (Border) but to keep the heart happy, ‘Shah-yad’ it is a good idea,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted sarcastically.

सब को मालूम है ‘सीमा’ की हक़ीक़त लेकिन,
दिल के ख़ुश रखने को, ‘शाह-यद’ ये ख़्याल अच्छा है।https://t.co/cxo9mgQx5K

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 8, 2020

This tweet was in response to Amit Shah’s statement that India’s defence policy has gained global acceptance. “The whole world agrees that after USA & Israel if there is any other country that is able to protect its borders, it is India,” Amit Shah had said.

In response, Singh, on Monday evening wrote a tweet, another tweaked version of Ghalib’s poem. “You apply medicine to the hand when it pains, but what to when the hand itself is the cause of pain,” he wrote.

मिर्ज़ा ग़ालिब का ही शेर थोड़ा अलग अन्दाज़ में है। ‘

‘हाथ’ में दर्द हो तो दवा कीजै,
‘हाथ’ ही जब दर्द हो तो क्या कीजै.. https://t.co/k1fhnI6K4N

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) June 8, 2020

The series of salvos has now reached Gandhi’s tweet, asking about Chinese troops in Ladakh.

The tensions between Indian and Chinese forces have been high ever since personnel from the two sides clashed along the northern bank of the Pangong Tso in Ladakh on 5 May. Four days later, a face-off between the two sides was witnessed near Naku La Pass in Sikkim.

This is the first significant standoff between India and China after the Doklam episode in 2017 when Indian and Chinese forces saw a major face-off over the construction of a road by China.

Several military and delegation-level talks have been taking place between the two nations to resolve the ongoing standoff.

The Congress party is expected to raise the border dispute when the Parliament meets next. “Some senior leaders of Congress party are asking what is happening on the India-China border. I want to assure people of the country that I will give a detailed response on this in the Parliament,” Singh had said on Monday.