’China has taken India’s land... PM Modi is lying..’: Rahul Gandhi in Ladakh

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on 25 August addressed a public rally in Ladakh's Kargil area and called it a strategic location. The Congress leader also spoke about how PM Modi has been is lying about the China issue. He added, “...Ladakh is a strategic location...One thing is very clear China has taken away India's land...”

“It is sad that the PM in the opposition meeting said that not even an inch of Ladakh has been taken by China. This is a lie.”

He further added that Ladakh doesn’t have scarcity of solar energy, and the people of BJP know this. “This is a matter of land and they want to take away your land,” he said in his address at a public rally.

During his rally he also spoke about the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir which he said was an aim was to stand against hatred and violence spread by BJP-RSS in the country.

“The message that came out of the Yatra was-'nafrat ke bazaar mein hum mohabbat ki dukaan kholne nikle hain'. In the last few days, I got to see this myself. At the time of the Yatra, I could not visit Ladakh due to snow in winter. It was in my heart to conduct the yatra in Ladakh and I took it forward this time on a motorbike,” he said.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi's claims on India-China border dispute is incorrect, says Army veteran: ‘India has lost land since 1950…’

Earlier on 20 August, the Congress MP had targeted Modi over the Indo-China border row. Gandhi told the media that he met local people in the union territory and they told him that China had taken some control over Indian territory. The Congress MP hit out at PM Modi saying he was lying to Indian citizens and was hiding the incompetence of his government.

India-China Border Row

India and China held the 19th round of Corps Commander Level talks on Monday at the Chushul-Moldo meeting point in the Eastern Ladakh sector to resolve the ongoing military standoff between the two countries for over three years. On 18 August, representatives from the Indian and Chinese army met for Major General-level talks at DBO and Chushul on Friday to resolve the ongoing stand-off in eastern Ladakh.

The two countries have been in a military standoff for the last three years since May 2020, when the Chinese tried to aggressively alter the status quo on the Line of Actual Control

The two countries had fought only one war, in 1962, but time and again, the border dispute has escalated several times. Both these countries have devoted billions of dollars to building strong road infrastructure and airfields along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) - the de facto boundary separating them.