Union Minister VK Singh, under flak for his "LAC transgressions by India" remark, blamed the media for "malicious distortion" of his statements. In a social media post on February 10, Singh said the reports circulating on his purported remarks are untrue.
"I am purported to have said that India has been transgressing the LAC with China, five times to every one ingress of theirs. This distortion could not be further from the truth," Singh posted on Facebook.
Singh, who is also a former Indian Army chief, landed in the dock after his conversation with reporters in Madurai on February 7. He was reported as saying that several transgressions by India are not made public by the government.
"...none of you come to know how many times we have transgressed as per our perception. We don’t announce it. Chinese media does not cover it… Let me assure you, if China has transgressed 10 times, we must have done it at least 50 times, as per our perception," The Week quoted him as saying.
Singh, in his clarification, stressed on the point of "perception". Since the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is yet to be mutually finalised by the two sides, there are transgressions as per the respective perceptions, he said.
"I had simply stated the established fact that the borders along the LAC have not been demarcated and until that is done there will always be differing perceptions," Singh's Facebook post added.
"The fact that the Peoples’ Republic of China has refused to settle the border is part of the bullying tactics adopted by the Chinese and that the Indian side is aware of these tactics and any aggression will be responded to with equal or greater level as was the case in Galwan," he further said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while referring to the reports on Singh's LAC remark, had demanded his ouster from the Narendra Modi-led government.
"Why is a BJP minister helping China make a case against India? He should’ve been sacked. Not sacking him means insulting every Indian Jawan," Gandhi tweeted on February 9.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also took cognisance of Singh's remarks, and called it an "unwitting confession" made by a former military general.
"For a long time, the Indian side has conducted frequent acts of trespass in the border area in an attempt to encroach on China's territory and constantly created disputes and frictions, which is the root cause of the tensions at the China-India border," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.
Singh, in his clarification note, blamed the "malicious misreporting" for providing an opportunity to China to spread its "propaganda".
"The distortion of my statement has needlessly given the Chinese a platform to try and cover their own aggressive tracks and shift the blame on India," he said.
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