Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slams PM Modi over Sino-India standoff

New Delhi, Feb 27: Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Sino-India border standoff on Saturday, charging him with being 'scared' of the eastern neighbour.

Before the stand-off at eastern Ladakh, where the disengagement process has been completed with the withdrawal of troops, weapons and other military hardware from the North and South banks of Pangong lake areas, the Chinese 'tested the idea in Dokhlam (in 2017),' he said.

'Essentially the Chinese occupied certain strategic areas in our country. They first tested the idea in Dokhlam.

"They tested the idea to see how would India react and they noticed India did not react. And then they carried out the idea again in Ladakh and also I believe in Arunachal Pradesh," he said.

Launching his three-day tour of Tamil Nadu ahead of the April 6 Assembly polls, Rahul Gandhi, while interacting with advocates here, reiterated his 'hum do hamare do' jibe at the ruling dispensation at the Centre.

Speaking in detail over the border standoff, Gandhi said Modi's first reaction to the Chinese incursions was 'that nobody has come into India.' 'That indicated to the Chinese that the Prime Minister of India is scared of them. That is the message he indicated to the Chinese, that he is scared of them and the Chinese understood it.