Congress party senior member Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that India's security has been "compromised" as the federal government has no "strategy" on China. He also accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being scared of Beijing.
In a tweet, Gandhi, who is the main voice of the country's key opposition party, cited a report where the Indian foreign ministry and Chief of Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, made conflicting statements regarding the issue of Chinese construction on the Indian side of the border.
General Rawat refuted a Pentagon claim that China had built a village inside Arunachal Pradesh, an Indian state bordering China.
The construction has been mentioned in a Pentagon report titled "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2021".
General Rawat's statement appeared to be at odds with a claim made by India's foreign ministry, which previously said there was "illegal" Chinese construction within Indian territory.
"My thoughts are with the soldiers risking their lives to guard our borders while the (Government of India) churns out lies," Gandhi added.