The Lok Sabha witnessed a fiery exchange between Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and the BJP’s Anurag Thakur today, when all eyes were on the debate on the Waqf Amendment bill in the upper house. Mr Gandhi’s criticism of the government on the border dispute with China and implementation of US tariff drew a stinging response from Mr Thakur, who not only rubbished his claims but also pointed fingers at the previous Congress governments.
The Congress leader had taken on the government over “the foreign secretary cutting cake with the Chinese ambassador” when 4000 square km of Indian land was under Chinese occupation. It was “a celebration of the martyrdom of the Indian soldiers who had given their lives,” he said.
Questioning the government’s response to the territorial issue, Mr Gandhi said, “We are not against restoration of normalcy. But there should be status quo before that. They have to give our land back”.
Mr Gandhi also accused the government of lack of transparency in its dealings with China. “It has come to my notice that the Prime Minister and the President have written to the Chinese. It is the Chinese Ambassador informing us about this, not our own people,” he said.
“What are you doing about our land, and what will you do about the tariff our ally has imposed on us?” he added, pointing to the new US tariff regime that kicked in early today. The US has announced additional 27 per cent import duties on India, saying New Delhi imposes high tariffs on American goods.
The reciprocal tariffs being imposed by the US will “completely devastate” the Indian economy, particularly sectors like the auto industry, pharmaceuticals and agriculture, Mr Gandhi said.
Then, in a stinging attack, he added, “Someone once asked Indira Gandhi ji in the matter of foreign policy whether she leans left or right. She replied that she is an Indian and she stands straight… The BJP and RSS have a different philosophy; when asked to lean right or left, they say they bow their heads to every foreigner that comes. This is part of their culture and history,” he added.
The next round of fireworks took place at Zero Hour when BJP MP Anurag Thakur hit back at Mr Gandhi, questioning under whose rule China occupied Aksai Chin area.
“They kept talking about Hindi-Chini bhai bhai and stabbed us in the back. Who was the leader that was having Chinese soup with Chinese officials at the time of Doklam and did not stand with the people of the Indian army? Which is the foundation which took money from Chinese officials. Question has not been answered whether Rajiv Gandhi foundation had taken that money or not, for what was the money taken?” Mr Thakur said.
“Under PM Modi’s government, we can say the Indian army gave a befitting reply during Doklam. The PM went to the border and boosted the morale of the armed forces. The defence minister also went… nobody has been able to take a single inch of land. Some people level false allegations while colluding with China for their political advantage,” he added.
