On Rahul Gandhi's 'China prepping for war', BJP says, 'He is so close to them'

Rahul Gandhi on Friday said China is preparing not for any incursion but for a full-fledged war from both Ladakh and Arunachal sides and the BJP government is sleeping. Commenting on this, BJP's Rajyavardhan Rathore said Rahul Gandhi is so close to China that he knows what they will be doing next. Rajiv Gandhi Foundation received a donation of ₹135 crore from the Communist Party of China, the BJP leader said.

Union minister Pralhad Joshi said Rahul Gandhi's opinion on China needs not to be taken seriously as Rajiv Gandhi Foundation took money from China. “It's a type of corruption. The way our land went to China under Pandit Nehru and the Congress regime is known by all. Rahul Gandhi should not be taken seriously,” Joshi said.

Criticising Rahul Gandhi's comment on Vijay Diwas, BJP's Amit Malviya said Rahul Gandhi continues to doubt the valour of the Indian soldiers while every proud Indian has seen 'videos' of men in uniform thrashing the Chinese soldiers. "...except of course Rahul Gandhi, who continues to doubt their valour just because he signed an MoU with the Chinese, his family enjoyed Chinese hospitality and received funds in RG Foundation…," Malviya wrote.

"There is striking similarity between Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Rahul Gandhi. Both are entitled dynasts, churlish and petulant, speak the same language, use similar words and idioms to target PM Modi. What binds them? Perhaps their hatred for India, that is growing in stature…," Malviya wrote.

The full form of the INC is I need Chinese money, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said. "Though our soldiers gave a befitting reply to the Chinese troops, Rahul Gandhi said 'jawano ko peet rahe hain'. This is the same Congress party which signed an MoU with China and gave away 38,000 sq km of our land in Aksai Chin. They never built any infrastructure along the LAC," Poonawalla said.

Addressing the press meeting on the occasion of the completion of the 100th day of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi said, "Before I came to this press conference, I was having lunch with my friend and said I can bet that the media will not ask any question about China. They will ask about yatra, Sachin Pilot, Ashok Gehlot everything but not China who captured 2,000 square km area of India, who martyred 20 jawans, who is thrashing our jawans in Arunachal. But the Indian press will not ask anything about this on me. Brother, desh dekh rahe hai. Don't think the country is not seeing."

After Rahul Gandhi's comment, he was asked about the recent Tawang clash which took place on December 9 in the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi said the threat from China is serious but the government is sleeping and trying to ignore and hide.

“See the pattern of their weapons. Their preparation is not for any incursion, it is for war. The government perhaps can't accept this,” Rahul Gandhi said.

"Indian government performs event-based work. It does not do strategic work. They do one event here, and another event there. But an event-based approach does not work in geo-strategy; it requires strength," Rahul Gandhi said adding that it is important to understand what is happening.

"Their speeches come. The external affairs minister often gives out statements. I should not say this but perhaps he should expand his understanding," Rahul Gandhi said.