Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his handling of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) standoff with China in another video on Thursday. This is the third in a series of videos released recently on social media where the Congress leader opines about the ongoing border conflict with China.
Attacking PM Modi, Gandhi tweeted: “PM is 100% focused on building his own image. India’s captured institutions are all busy doing this task. One man’s image is not a substitute for a national vision.” This tweet was accompanied by a two-minute-long video in which he spoke about India’s relations with China, especially after the violent face-off at Galwan Valley that led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers.
Gandhi shared his idea of tackling China, stating, “Psychologically, you have to deal with the Chinese from a position of strength. If you deal with them from a position of strength, you can work with them. But if they sense weakness then you had it.”
“The first thing is you are not going to take on China without a vision. This has to be an international vision,” he said further, adding that “India has to have a global vision. India now has to become an idea. And it has to become a global idea. So that’s the thing that is going to protect India.”
Gandhi also remarked that a huge opportunity will be missed by not thinking big and long-term. “We’re fighting among ourselves—look at the politics—an Indian fighting an Indian. This shows there is no clear-cut vision going forward,” he added.
Focusing his attack on PM Modi, Gandhi said that it is his job as an opponent of the PM to question him and put pressure on him so he does his work. He finished the video by saying, “His responsibility is to give the vision. It’s not there. I can tell you, guaranteed, it’s not there and that’s why China is in there today.”
This video follows Gandhi’s 19 July video, where he accused PM Modi of weakening India to protect his “fabricated strongman image”. In that video, Gandhi had opined about how China is putting pressure on Modi. “And what they are doing is that they are attacking his image. They understand that in order for Narendra Modi to be an effective politician, in order for Modi to survive as a politician, he has to protect the idea of ‘chhappan inch’,” he had said.
Rahul Gandhi’s video has received sharp criticism from the ruling BJP. Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has responded by terming the Congress leader “sarfira” (wrong-headed). He said, “At the time of a pandemic, how come a person reacts so negatively? We don’t have any treatment for such madness; he needs to see a psychologist.” He further added that while the government is busy doing constructive work, Congress is busy with “destructive deals”.
