Manmohan Singh as prime minister “abjectly surrendered” hundreds of square kilometres of India’s land to China and presided over 600 incursions made by the neighbouring country between 2010 and 2013, said BJP president J P Nadda in a scathing counter-attack on the former PM, on Monday (June 22).
After Singh took aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his handling of the ongoing stand-off with China, Nadda, in a series of tweets, said the senior Congress leader and his party should stop “insulting” our forces repeatedly and questioning their valour.
They did this post the airstrikes and surgical strikes, the BJP president said, asking the Congress to understand the true meaning of national unity, especially in such times.
“Dr Manmohan Singh belongs to the same party which: Helplessly surrendered over 43,000 km of Indian territory to the Chinese! During the UPA years saw abject strategic and territorial surrender without a fight. Time and again belittles our forces (SIC).”
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“One only wishes that Dr Singh was as worried about Chinese designs when, as PM, he abjectly surrendered hundreds of square kilometres of India’s land to China. He presided over 600 incursions made by China between 2010 to 2013!” Nadda tweeted.
Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh’s statement is mere wordplay.
Sadly, the conduct and actions of top leaders of the Congress party will not make any Indian believe such statements.
Remember, this is the same INC that always questions & demoralises our armed forces.
— Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) June 22, 2020
Dr Manmohan Singh can certainly share his wisdom on many subjects but the responsibilities of the office of the Prime Minister isn’t one of them. UPA personified systematic institutional erosion of that office, combined with disrespect for our armed forces. NDA has reversed that!
— Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) June 22, 2020
In his first remarks on the Ladakh face-off, the former prime minister said Modi must be mindful of the implications of his words and cannot allow China to use them as a vindication of its position.
Noting that disinformation is no substitute for diplomacy or decisive leadership, Singh called upon the prime minister to ensure justice for soldiers who died defending India’s territorial integrity.
Hitting back, Nadda said Singh’s statement is mere “wordplay.” Sadly, the conduct and actions of top leaders of the Congress party will not make any Indian believe such statements, he added.
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Remember, this is the same Congress that always questions and demoralises our armed forces, he said.
“India fully trusts and supports PM Narendra Modi. 130 crore Indians have seen his administrative experience in some of the most testing times, particularly how he has always put the well-being of the nation over and above everything else,” he said.
Nadda said Singh rightly calls for unity. He then added that these strong words on paper fall flat when people see exactly who is vitiating the atmosphere of unity. “Hope Dr. Singh is able to prevail on his own party at least,” he said.