'China's PLA has grossly miscalculated India's resilience & strength': Subramanian Swamy

Amid the rising tensions between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy on Friday said that it seems China's People Liberation Army (PLA) has "grossly miscalculated" India's resilience and inner strength once again.

'The only collapse was of Nehru'

Comparing the current situation with that in 1962, when both the countries fought a war, the Rajya Sabha MP said back then the Chinese leadership thought, as advised by "our Communist intellectuals", that "India will crack up into 20 countries". Instead, India united "vigorously", he added. The senior BJP leader took a dig at the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and said that "only collapse was of Nehru."

'We can't have a similar situation'

Earlier, Swamy said that China crossed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and there was no question that the provocation in the ongoing standoff in eastern Ladakh came from their side. 

Asked during a webinar hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Club whether India will go to the extent of going to war to reclaim the land, Swamy said, "I know the mood in my party. I know on what basis we came to power and it will be suicide for us not to recover that land, no matter what the price we have to pay." He asserted that diplomacy will not solve the problem.

"The Chinese will not move back, the Indian people will not tolerate (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi accepting the new status quo, so we will have to go to war, maybe a localised war... whatever is hanging around our neck of 1962, we can't have a similar situation where we lump it," Swamy said. They should not think we are the same "softies of 1962", the Rajya Sabha MP said.

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India hits back at China

China has been amassing a large contingent of troops and armaments along the LAC in eastern Ladakh since early May, India said on Thursday and warned that continuation of the current situation would only vitiate the atmosphere for the development of the relationship.

In a strongly-worded statement, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the conduct of the Chinese forces is in "complete disregard" of all mutually agreed norms. At an online media briefing, he also gave a detailed rundown of the events along the LAC in the eastern Ladakh and said Chinese side was responsible for the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15.

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(With PTI inputs)