Extremely shameful, Rahul Gandhi hurting India’s dignity with baseless remarks in US: Rajnath Singh

PTI, Sep 11, 2024, 3:49 PM IST

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday flayed Rahul Gandhi for his remarks in the US and said it is “extremely shameful” that the Leader of Opposition is hurting the dignity of India by saying “misleading, baseless and factless things” during his foreign tour.

In a post on X in Hindi, Singh also dismissed Gandhi’s claims on the India-China border dispute as “misleading and beyond facts” and asked the Congress leader to refrain from making such false statements.

At a press conference held on Tuesday at the prestigious National Press Club in Washington, Gandhi supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies on Pakistan but the Leader of Opposition was critical of the latter’s handling of China.

Responding to a question if he thinks India under Prime Minister Modi has managed the US-China competition well, Gandhi said, “Well, if you call having Chinese troops in 4,000 square kilometres of our territory handling something well, then maybe”.

“We’ve got Chinese troops occupying land the size of Delhi in Ladakh. I think that’s a disaster. Media doesn’t like to write about it,” he said.

Reacting to Gandhi’s remarks, Singh said the kind of misleading, baseless and factless things that the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is saying during his foreign tour are extremely shameful and hurt the dignity of India. “He has said that the Sikh community in India is not allowed to wear turbans in Gurdwaras, they are being prevented from behaving according to their religion. This is completely baseless and far from the truth,” the minister said.

Singh said the entire country recognises and respects the “great role” played by the Sikh community in protecting the culture of India.

It is not befitting for an opposition leader to make such “false statements” about them, he added.

“Similarly, the kind of claims he has made on the soil of America regarding the India-China border dispute are also misleading and beyond facts,” the minister said and asked Gandhi to refrain from making “such false statements”.

“It seems that while running the shop of love, Rahulji has opened a shop of lies,” he added.

Singh said Gandhi’s claim that the NDA government wants to abolish reservation is also “completely baseless”.

“Our prime minister has strengthened the reservation system for the welfare and development of Dalits, backward classes and tribals,” he added.