Bravery displayed by Indian armed forces in Galwan, Tawang commendable: Rajnath Singh
The defence minister also took an indirect dig at Rahul Gandhi for "doubting" the government's intention in the handling of the border row with China and said politics can not be done on the basis of "falsehood".
FollowDefence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday (December 17) said that bravery and valour displayed by the armed forces during the Galwan valley clashes and the recent face-off in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh is commendable and any amount of praise for them is not enough.
Singh's comments during an address at industry chamber FICCI came a day after Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi accused the Centre of downplaying the threat posed by China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and saying it was "asleep" and not ready to accept the situation.
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The defence minister also took an indirect dig at Rahul Gandhi for "doubting" the government's intention in the handling of the border row with China and said politics can not be done on the basis of "falsehood".
"Any amount of praise is not enough for the armed forces the way they displayed bravery and valour, be it in Galwan or Tawang," Singh said. "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 naming anyone.
"The process of taking the society towards the right path is called 'rajniti' (politics). I do not understand the reason behind always doubting anyone's intention always," Singh said.
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On December 9, Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a fresh clash in the Yangtse area of Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang sector, in a first such major flare-up after the deadly hand-to-hand combat in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.
In his remarks, Singh also said that India aspires to become a superpower for global good and prosperity, and it does not have any intention to even capture one inch of land of any country, seen as a thinly veiled reference to China's aggressive behaviour along the borders.
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"India returned to the list of top 10 economies in the 21st century. But the kind of development that should have happened in India was not happening," the defence minister said, adding that a new era of development began in 2014 when Narendra Modi became the prime minister.
Singh said when Modi took charge of the government, the Indian economy used to be the ninth-largest globally and its size was about two trillion dollars. "Today, India's economy has become the fifth-largest economy with a size of three-and-a-half trillion dollars," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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