Can govt confirm no Chinese soldier has entered India, asks Rahul Gandhi

Amid a border standoff with China, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asked the government to make it clear whether or not Chinese soldiers have entered India. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had on Tuesday said that a "sizeable number" of Chinese troops have moved into eastern Ladakh and India too has taken all necessary steps to deal with the situation.

Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday took to Twitter to ask, "Can GOI (Government of India) please confirm that no Chinese soldiers have entered India (sic)." He also shared a report about India and China holding a top-level military meet on June 6 in a bid to resolve the troop's standoff in eastern Ladakh. Gandhi asked the government to come clean on the border standoff with China and tell the country what exactly is happening "as its silence is fuelling speculation and uncertainty".

"The government's silence about the border situation with China is fuelling massive speculation and uncertainty at a time of crisis," he said earlier. The Congress has asked the government to come clean on the border standoff and take all political parties and the country into confidence over the restoration of the status quo ante on the border with China. Troops of India and China were engaged in a major standoff for over three weeks in Pangong Tso, Galway Valley, Demchok and Daulat Beg Oldie in eastern Ladakh, in what is turning out to be the biggest confrontation between the two countries after the Doklam episode in 2017.

The government has been maintaining that talks at military and diplomatic levels are on to resolve the row.