External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today slammed the Congress over their comments with regard to the Indian Army amid the ongoing border row with China. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Jaishankar said that he is not against political criticism by the opposition but urged the opposition leaders to not criticise the army jawans. Jaishankar also said that India has been pushing China for de-escalation and disengagement at the border while openly accepting that Sino-India ties are not in a good phase.


COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

"If we were indifferent to China, why are we today pressing China on disengagement and de-escalation? Why are we saying publicly that our ties are not normal? We have no problem if there are political differences or there is even political criticism, I have heard some time that my own understanding needs to be deepened, when I see who is giving the advice, I can only bow and respect. But, I think, we should not, directly or indirectly, criticise our jawans. Our jawans are standing in Yangtse at 13 thousand feet, defending our border. They do not deserve to have the word 'pitaai'. The word 'pitaai' should not be used for our jawans. Our jawans are standing their ground, they should be respected, they should be honoured, appreciated," said Jaishankar.



It may be noted that two days ago, Rahul Gandhi allegedly said that jawans are being beaten by Chinese soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh. He was criticising the BJP government for failing to stop Chinese aggression.


Earlier today, during an India-Japan conclave in New Delhi, Jaishankar said that the Indian Army will not let China change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) "unilaterally" and its current deployment along the frontier was not seen before.