Rahul Gandhi’s Wake-up Call to BJP Government, “China is preparing for Full-scale War”

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Dec 16: A week after the Indian and Chinese troops clashed in Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi send a wake-up call to the BJP government at the centre claiming that China was preparing for a full-scale war and not just small incursions while India was “sleeping.”

Talking to media persons in Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan, on Friday at the completion of 100 days of the “Bharat Jodo Yatra,” Gandhi accused the government of downplaying the threat posed by China, saying Beijing was preparing for war but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration was “sleeping.”

“The signs are clear that China is preparing for war, not just an incursion. See their pattern of weapons. They are preparing for war. Our government is not accepting it. The government of India is working on events, not on strategy,” he said. “China has taken our land. They are beating out soldiers. The threat of China is clear. And the government is hiding it, ignoring it. China is preparing for an offensive in Ladakh and Arunachal. And the government of India is sleeping,” Mr Gandhi said.

The Congress leader also attacked Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, saying his statements showed he needed to expand his knowledge on China. The comments come days after the government said China had tried to “unilaterally change the status quo” on the de facto border known as Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh last week, triggering clashes that left troops on both sides injured, adding that the attempt had been successfully repulsed.

To a question on the internal squabbles within the Rajasthan Congress, Gandhi said he did not feel that Ashok Gehlot – Sachin Pilot recent spur would have any adverse impact on the party’s prospects in the coming elections. He spoke about “internal democracy” when asked about Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s recent defiance to the party’s plan to make him national chief. “In our structure there is clarity. We are not a dictator. We like discussion,” Mr Gandhi said, with Mr Gehlot seated next to him.

Pressed on what action, if any, the party will take after Mr Gehlot’s loyalists publicly opposed replacing him, possibly, with Sachin Pilot, Mr Gandhi insisted, “There is no indecision. It happens in a party. It has happened in Rajasthan; it’s OK.” Factionalism will not hurt the party’s prospects the Rajasthan elections due in a year, he claimed, “Zyada nuqsaan nahin hona chahiye (There should not be much damage). We have support among the common people. We fight elections on the back of our party workers at the grassroots. That’s our way.”

He claimed that his Yatra had received overwhelming response in Rajasthan where many believed that the Gehlot – Pilot acrimony could have an adverse impact on the Yatra.  “We have received overwhelming response in Rajasthan. I had thought the party was strong in Kerala, but the response in fact kept improving as we moved through Maharashtra, Karnataka and so on — which the media is not showing,” he said.

On the larger political scenario, he cited the recent victory in Himachal Pradesh and attributed the Gujarat loss to the presence of AAP. Asserting that regional parties lack a national vision, he insisted that “only the Congress can bring down the BJP-RSS… and its agenda of divisiveness and hate.”

He did agree with the idea of Opposition unity — the 2024 contest against PM Narendra Modi-led BJP is barely 15 months away — and, when asked about his party taking the lead, said, “I have a view; Congress must work with the Opposition. But you must ask the new congress president.”

About some Congress leaders crossing over to the BJP, Gandhi said he and the party were not particularly bothered about it. “If certain people want to leave the Congress party, if some lack the courage to take on the BJP, they are welcome to leave the party. We don’t want them. We want those who believe in the Congress party and don’t believe in fascism,” he said.

Reacting to claims that the Congress is ‘finished’, he said that the party can “never be finished”. “Mark my words the BJP is going to be taken down by the Congress party,” he said.

He also said the response to the Bharat Jodo Yatra has been overwhelming in Rajasthan and the Hindi speaking belt.

“We saw that it is not just the party workers, but general public also loves the Congress a lot… Critics felt the Bharat Jodo Yatra will fail in Rajasthan due to factionalism, but it has been a huge success here and the response has been overwhelming,” the former Congress president said.

Mr Gandhi attacked the BJP, accusing it again of “dividing India” and spreading hatred, while also trying to draw a line on what Congress should not aspire to be. “The BJP is very clear about who they are, they divide India. They spread hate and they are very clear about who they are. The day the Congress understands what it is not, it will win every election it faces,” he said.

About the party’s dismal performance in Gujarat, Gandhi said rival Aam Aadmi Party played a big role in the grand old party’s poor show in the Gujarat Assembly elections and claimed that the Congress would have defeated the ruling BJP if not for AAP.

“In Gujarat, AAP was the proxy,” he said, reiterating his party’s claim that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is the “B team” of the BJP and colluded with them to hurt Congress. AAP has rejected these allegations, insisting that it is the Congress that sided with the BJP to prevent its entry into Gujarat, where it had said it was surely forming the government.