What former Army chief MM Naravane says on the China crisis

New Delhi, Dec 15: Former chief of Indian Army General MM Naravane has slammed China for stooping low to the level of "prehistoric times" as its army used "clubs and barbed wires" in the scuffle with the Indian Army recently in Arunachal Pradesh.

The former army chief said that he would rather fight with weapons than use "club and barbed wires." He pointed out the India showed the world that it was possible to take on "neighbourhood bullying" when it firecly confronted the PLA army in the Galwan valley.

"That is how an army fights by using the weapons at your disposal and not getting into fisticuffs. Are we hooligans or mafia? We are professional. Is that the level PLA has gone down to? Hooliganism and streetfighting? Or they are a professional 21st-century army? On one side they try to show their technological prowess, on the other side they are coming with barbed wire clubs. It is ridiculous," the former Army Chief is quoted as saying in an exclusive interview with a news agency.

MM Naravane stated that the threat from northern borders of India is also increasing. "Based on those threats, what remedial measures or countermeasures we should take. And it is in that light that we felt the threat from our northern borders is increasing vis-a-vis that is of the western border. Therefore, we need to rebalance some forces. We have always had plans and place where some troops could go from the western front to the eastern front or vice versa," Naravane said.

Armed with spiked clubs, over 200 soldiers of the Chinese PLA clashed with the Indian soldiers in the Yangtse area of Tawang Sector, last Friday, a PTI report said. India and China are already locked in a tense stand-off along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. In a statement, the Army said claimed that the PLA troops contacted the LAC in Tawang Sector, which was contested by own troops in a firm and resolute manner. This face-off led to minor injuries to few personnel from both sides, the Army also said.

In the same interview, Naravane spoke about the 2020 Galwan clash in which 20 Indian soldiers died and 40 from China. The incident occurred when he was the army chief. "Not only the PLA itself, it diminished the stature of China as a country in the global eyes. After this clash occured and we showed that it is possible to stand up to China who tries to bully its smaller neighbours," he added.

He claimed that the Indian Army attacked the Chinese side in the same manner in which the PLA army targeted the Indian side. "Although we did not fire, we also resorted in a similar vein. It was always a question of who will open fire first. Since we felt that we had the measure of the PLA troops over there, we also countered them in the same way that they were taking action against us which was basically by the use of non-lethal, that is not actually firing, although casualties did occur. They were carrying sticks and we were also carrying sticks," he recalled.

He batted for "Make in India' initiative to develop indigenous weapons and stressed on the need to make as much as weapons within the country. "Make in India, Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative is a very good thing that has been done. So we reduce our weapons imports to the extent possible. Why I say to the extent possible because no country makes 100 per cent of the things themselves," General Naravane said. "Russia is making helicopters, 30-40 per cent of the components come from abroad. We realised that we cannot be dependent on external supply chains. We can have a portion of it external. The bulk of it should be within our country," he added.