New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday drew parallels between Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the border conflict between India and China, saying that China is adopting the same approach to India as Russia has adopted towards Ukraine.
While having a conversation with film actor-turned-politician Kamal Hassan that the Congress MP posted on his YouTube channel, Rahul said, "Essentially, what the Russians have done in Ukraine is that they have said we do not want Ukraine to have a strong relationship with the west and they have basically told the Ukrainians that if you will have a strong relationship with the west, we will alter your geography."
He added, "That is the exact same principle that can be applied to India. What the Chinese are saying to us is that be careful with what you are doing, because we will alter your geography. We will enter Ladakh, we will enter Arunachal (Pradesh), and what I can see is them building a platform for that type of an approach."
The Congress leader claimed that the Sino-Indian border conflict has a link with the state of affairs he believed was prevailing in India.
“There’s a link between a weak economy, confused nation without a vision, hatred and anger, and the Chinese sitting in our territory,” Rahul said, adding that the Chinese know that India is dealing with internal confusion and lack of harmony and they can just go in and do whatever they want.
Gandhi further stated that security has become a holistic thing in the 21st century as one has to have a global view of it, adding, "Security today has become a holistic thing. You don’t necessarily get attacked from the borders. You can get attacked from the inside. You can get attacked by cyber weapons, by the use of your media. In the 21st century, one needs to have a global view of security and that’s where our government has miscalculated."
So the single most important thing in the 21st century is that the country has internal cohesion, the Congress leader noted, adding that there needs to be harmony in the country, people should not be fighting with each other, there should be peace and the country should have a vision.
"So as an Indian person, I do not want to be somebody who is war mongering, but I would like our country to be aware that there are real problems at the border and those problems are connected to what is going on inside our country. When Indians fights Indians, when the economy does not work, when there is joblessness, our external opponent can take advantage of this situation," Gandhi said.
(With inputs from PTI)