Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday launched a fresh attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the India-China border face off issue saying he fabricated a “fake” strongman image to come to power and now his biggest strength is “India’s biggest weakness”.
“PM fabricated a fake strongman image to come to power. It was his biggest strength. It is now India’s biggest weakness,” Rahul tweeted along with the video.
In the video message, speaking on “China’s Strategic Game Plan” Rahul said, “It is simply not a border issue. The worry I have is that the Chinese are sitting in our territory today. Chinese don’t do anything without thinking about it strategically.”
“In their mind, they have mapped out the world and they are trying to shape the world. That’s the scale of what they are doing. That’s what Gwadar is, that is what belt and road is. It is a restructuring of the planet. So when you are thinking about the Chinese you have to understand that that is the level at which they are thinking,” he added.
Rahul said at the tactical level, the Chinese are trying to position themselves in various areas of Ladakh along the LoC, including Galwan Valley, Demchok and Pangong Lake.
“They’re disturbed by our highway, they want to make our highway redundant and if they are thinking on a larger scale, they want to do something with Pakistan in Kashmir. So, it is not simply a border issue. It is a border issue designed to put pressure on the Prime Minister of India,” Rahul said.
“And they are thinking of putting pressure in a very particular way. And what they are doing, is that they are attacking his image. They understand that in order for Mr Narendra Modi to be an effective politician; in order for Mr Narendra Modi to survive as a politician, he has to protect the idea of ‘chhappan-inch’. And this is the real idea the Chinese are attacking. They are basically telling Mr Narendra Modi that if you do not do what we say, we will destroy the idea of Mr Narendra Modi as a strong leader,” said the Congress leader.
Rahul further said now the question is, how will PM Modi react. Will he take them on? Will he take on the challenge and say absolutely not, “I’m the Prime Minister. I do not care about my image. I’m going to take you on. Or will he succumb to them?”
“The worry I have so far is that the Prime Minister has succumbed. The worry I have is, the Chinese are sitting in our territory today and the Prime Minister has said publicly they are not, which to me tells me that he is worried about his image and defending his image,” said Rahul.
