Union Minister and former Indian Army chief general V.K. Singh on Wednesday responded to criticism of his purported remarks on transgressions by Indian troops on the Line of Actual Control.
Responding to his remarks on the LAC made in Madurai on Sunday, Singh, who is the minister of state for road transport and highways, said that he was purported to have said "India has been transgressing the LAC with China, five times to every one ingress of theirs."
"This distortion could not be further from the truth. I had simply stated the established fact that the borders along the LAC have not been demarcated and until that is done there will always be differing perceptions," Singh said in a Facebook post.
Singh claimed that the Peoples’ Republic of China had refused to settle the border dispute as part of its "bullying tactics". He added that the Indian side is aware of these tactics and any aggression will be responded to with equal or greater measure as was the case in Galwan last year.
Attending a programme in Madurai on Sunday, Singh had said that India has transgressed the LAC more often than the Chinese side, based on perceptions. “…none of you come to know how many times we have transgressed as per our perception. We don’t announce it. Chinese media does not cover it… Let me assure you, if China has transgressed 10 times, we must have done it at least 50 times, as per our perception,” Singh had said.
Reacting to his remark, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin claimed this was an “unwitting confession” of “frequent acts of trespass”.
also read
- Not sacking VK Singh means insulting every Indian jawan: Rahul Gandhi
- Union minister's claim of ‘India transgressing LAC more than China’ causes stir
- Farmers' protests more political in nature: Union Minister V.K. Singh
- If we lost 20 soldiers, more than double were killed on Chinese side: V.K. Singh
- 'Modi ki sena' issue: V.K. Singh takes on BBC India over interview
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP over its minister's remarks and said Singh should be sacked for “helping China make a case against India”.
Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Why is a BJP minister helping China make a case against India? He should’ve been sacked. Not sacking him means insulting every Indian Jawan.”
On Wednesday, General Singh claimed that in the race to create sensationalist headlines, newspaper editors must verify what was said and what is reported. "The distortion of my statement/reply has needlessly given the Chinese a platform to try and cover their own aggressive tracks and shift the blame on India," he said. Singh added "As a former Army Chief and the Minister of State for External Affairs, I am fully aware of the implications of this blatant misreporting. I wish to place on record that this report is a malicious distortion and has nothing to do with what was actually said."
