Sushma Swaraj 'buckled' to Chinese power on Doklam, alleges Rahul Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi has accused External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj of "buckling to Chinese power" for her claim that there is status quo in Doklam.

Keeping up his party's attack on the Narendra Modi government over the issue, Gandhi posted to Twitter on Thursday that Swaraj's statement made in the Lok Sabha was a "betrayal of the soldiers on the border.

"Amazing how a lady like Sushma ji has buckled and prostrated herself in front of Chinese power. Absolute subservience to the leader means our brave jawan has been betrayed on the border," he tweeted.



He also tagged a media report on a US Congresswoman claiming China has "quietly resumed" its activities in the Doklam area and asserting that neither Bhutan nor India sought to dissuade it.

Congresswoman Ann Wagner had made the claim during a Congressional hearing of the US House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee for Asia and the Pacific last week. The claim, however, was denied by New Delhi.

A day earlier Swaraj told parliament that there was no change in the status quo at the site of the military face-off with China in and the issue was resolved with "diplomatic maturity".

"As far as Doklam issue is concerned, I am saying with full responsibility it has been solved with diplomatic maturity. There is status quo at the face-off site and there is not an inch of change," she had said in reply to a question by an Opposition member.

Congress latched on to it immediately saying it hid more than it revealed and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make a statement in Parliament "placing all the facts".

Minister of state for Home , Kiren Rijiju, hit back saying the Congress president was ignorant of facts.

"This tweet is one classic example of how Rahul Gandhi ji is not only ignorant of facts but depicts how he takes political soundbites as more important than national interest. Don't some senior Congress Ex-Ministers brief him about sensitivities?" he tweeted.


The Opposition has been accusing the government of not raising the matter with China during visits by Modi, Swaraj or Defence Minister nirmala Sitharaman even as media reports suggested to "heavy Chinese military presence " in the region.

Congress communications incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala said media reports and satellite imagery had suggested that the Chinese Army has not only built a full-fledged Chinese Military Complex in Doklam but also occupied the entire Doklam plateau right upto 10m from Indian Army post.

Before august last year both countries were locked in a 73-day face-off in Doklam after the Indian troops stopped the building of a road in the disputed tri-junction by the Chinese Army.