Stop politicising national security, says Pawar in apparent dig at Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi, June 27: Nationalist Congress Party president and former defence minister, Sharad Pawar on Saturday said that matter relating to national security should not be politicised.

His comments came in response to a question about Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi's charge that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi had surrendered Indian territory to Chinese aggression.

The NCP chief said that the first time something like this had happened after the 1962 war when China had laid claim on large tracts of Indian land. We cannot forget what happened in 1962 when China occupied 45,000 square kilometres of India's territory.

While making these allegations, one should also look at what happened in the past. This is an issue of national interest and one should not bring in politics here, Pawar said.

Our soldiers tried to push back Chinese Army men when they tried to encroach upon Indian soil. To say this is the failure f anyone or of the defence minister is not correct. If the Army was not on alert, we would not have known the Chinese assertion, he also said.

The scuffle itself means that we were vigilant. Hence I do not think such allegations are fair to make, Pawar also said. He further cited the agreement between India and China when the two nations decided not to use guns at the Line of Actual Control.