BJP mocks Chidambaram for comparing China-RGF deal to private Chinese PM-CARES donations

The political spat between BJP and Congress worsened on Monday as P Chidambaram raised questions on PM-CARES fund accepting donations from Chinese organisations, despite Beijing’s continuous intrusions into India’s Depsang (2013), Chumar (2014) and Doklam in 2017.

Taking to Twitter, Chidambaram said, “In 2005, India-China relations were good and efforts were being made to improve them. If (China’s) donation in 2005 (to RGF) was wrong, how much more wrong was accepting donations after 2013-17 (through PM-CARES)?”

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It is important to note here that the donations being referred to by Chidambaram entail Chinese private companies investing in a public fund, whereas in the RGF case, it was the Chinese embassy investing in a private entity.

In a counter-attack to Congress over the funding row, BJP leader Amit Malviya said “only a genius could compare donation made to a public fund (PM-CARES) with private donations made to a family entity (Rajiv Gandhi Foundation).”

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‘Chinese cash lulled India into complacency’

In a scathing attack on the Modi government, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Sunday that China “lulled India into complacency by jhoola diplomacy” and money.

In a series of tweets, the former Finance Minister said that several Chinese companies donated to PM-CARES fund after it was launched on March 28, 2020. He juxtaposed the event, by saying that Chinese troops also began incursions into Ladakh in March-April 2020.

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“Does it require great intelligence to discern China’s motives? China lulled India into complacency by Jhoola diplomacy and Chinese money. Was it not an abject failure on the part of the Modi government?” he further questioned.

The political blame game between BJP and Congress commenced after 20 Indian Army personnel were martyred in a violent clash with Chinese troops at the LAC on June 15. While the latter questioned the Centre's handling of the crisis, BJP accused the Congress leadership of having close ties with China.

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