Farmers Movement Archive

'What message did you give to China?' Rahul Gandhi questions Govt's defence allocation

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed the Centre over the Union Budget and said the amount allocated towards the defence sector failed to challenge China.Addressing a press briefing, Gandhi alleged that the Centre through its budget conveyed a message to China that it won't increase the expenditure on defence. "You raised it (Defence expenditure) by ₹3000-4000 crore. What message did you give? That you can enter India and do whatever you want? We won't support our defence forces?" he said.Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had allocated ₹4.78 lakh crores towards the defence sector of which ₹3.62 lakh was for the armed forces. " ₹1.35 lakh crore has been set aside for capital outlay to buy new weapons, aircraft, warships and other military hardware," she said on Monday.China enters into India & grabs our land. What message do you give them? That we won't increase our Defence Expenditure. You raised it by ₹3000-4000 Cr. What message did you give? That you can enter India & do whatever you want, we won't support our Defence Forces: Rahul Gandhi pic.twitter.com/pQRr6Ui8EWNine rounds of talks have been held between India and China till now in order to resolve the standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh. Tensions are also heightened between the two countries in Arunachal, Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.Meanwhile, Gandhi also said during the briefing that this year's budget was only for the country's one per cent population and alleged that money was seized from farmers, workers in small and medium industries and the forces and was being put into the pockets of 5-10 people.Also Read| Amid border row, Rajnath says India ready to ‘defeat any misadventure’Speaking on the ongoing farmers' agitation against the Centre's three new farm laws, the Congress leader pointed out that farmers were India's strength and the government should not threaten them and the issue needs to be resolved as quickly as possible. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's offer to postpone the farm laws for two years, Gandhi said, "Either you believe that you need to get rid of the laws or you don't."

Hindustan Times

03-02-2021

India