Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said that he sees China adopting the same approach to India as Russia has adopted towards Ukraine. In a conversation with actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan that the Congress MP posted on his YouTube channel, Rahul said that the Chinese have, in principle, adopted the same approach of threatening India to alter its geography if it does not watch its ways as Russia has done with Ukraine.
“Essentially, what the Russians have done in Ukraine is that they have said we do not want Ukraine to have a strong relationship with the West and they have basically told the Ukrainians that if you will have a strong relationship with the West, we will alter your geography,” Rahul said speaking to Haasan.
“That is the exact same principle that can be applied to India. What the Chinese are saying to us is that “be careful with what you are doing, because we will alter your geography. We will enter Ladakh, we will enter Arunachal (Pradesh)”, and what I can see is them building a platform for that type of an approach,” Rahul Gandhi added.
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‘Weak economy, confused nation without a vision’
Rahul Gandhi further sought to draw a link between the Chinese aggression on the border and the state of affairs he believed was prevailing in India. “There’s a link between a weak economy, confused nation without a vision, hatred and anger, and the Chinese sitting in our territory,” Rahul said, adding that the Chinese know that India is dealing with internal confusion and lack of harmony and they can just go in and do whatever they want.
Rahul further said that in terms of the security of the country in the 21st century, it is not just good enough to say what our borders look like. “Security today has become a holistic thing. You don’t necessarily get attacked from the borders. You can get attacked from the inside. You can get attacked by cyber weapons, by the use of your media. In the 21st century, one needs to have a global view of security and that’s where our government has miscalculated,” he said.
‘PM’s position destroying India’s negotiation power’
Rahul further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s position denying any transgression by the Chinese has weakened India’s position on the negotiating table.
“The fact of the matter is that China has taken 2000 square km of our territory. And the Prime Minister hasn’t said anything. The military has clearly said that they are sitting in our territory. But the Prime Minister has said nobody has come. This sends a very clear message to China that “we can do whatever we want and India will not respond”. In some of the conversations that they are having with our military, they are making a statement that “Look, your Prime Minister himself has said we are not in our territory. So what is the conversation about?” It destroys the entire negotiation position of India,” Rahul said.
Rahul further said that the single most important thing in the 21st century is that a country has internal cohesion, that people are not fighting, that there’s peace and harmony in the country and the country has a vision. “The point is not going to war but to be in a position that you cannot be attacked,” he said.
“So as an Indian person, I do not want to be somebody who is war-mongering, but I would like our country to be aware that there are real problems at the border and those problems are connected to what is going on inside our country. When Indians fight Indians, when the economy does not work, when there is joblessness, our external opponent can take advantage of this situation,” Rahul said.
Government not listening to Opposition: Rahul
Rahul further said that one of the things that the leaders of various political parties are constantly asking the government is to talk about the Sino-Indian border issue, “if not to the media, then at least to the opposition”, as they understand these things.
“We might be able to help you, advise you, bounce ideas. But they just do not listen. It is like the approach that we understand everything,” he added.