At a defence panel meet today, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi questioned the supply of rations to the Indian Army. In the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence which was chaired by BJP leader Jual Oram, the Congress MP from Wayanad asked why there is a difference in food for Jawans and officers stationed at the borders.

News18 journalist working on Congress beat Pallavi Ghosh had also taken to the micro-blogging site to announce that Rahul Gandhi would be raising the agenda on the difference in the diet of Jawans and officers in the Parliamentary meeting today.


It may be noted that although Rahul Gandhi is a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence in the current Lok Sabha, today was the first time that he attended the meeting. He had skipped all the previous 11 meetings of the committee, even though he has been attacking the Modi government on various defence related matters, from Rafale jets to LAC conflict.

Global Times editor Hu Xijin is back to taking pot-shots at India

It’s uncanny how Rahul Gandhi’s ‘concern’ for the Indian Jawans came just when the Chinese government mouthpiece Global Times’s editor-in-chief took to Twitter to peddle the same agenda to belittle India. The Global Times’s editor-in-chief taunted India over the “cold canned food” they are given to consume in comparison to the “hot meals” the PLA’s frontline soldiers enjoy.

Sharing a video of the food the Chinese Army officials get to eat, Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Chinese propaganda arm wrote: “With these drones, the PLA’s frontline soldiers can enjoy hot meals once winter reaches the plateau. Some sympathize with the nearby Indian soldiers who can only eat cold canned food and have to endure the severe cold and potential spread of COVID-19”.

Just like the Communist Party in China, it’s propaganda machinery Global Times also seems to be sharing an unfaltering understanding with the Congress party. Today, Rahul Gandhi was seen peddling the same agenda which the Global Times editor-in-chief used to deride India. Recently, to target India’s move in Ladakh, the Chinese propaganda arm, Global Times, had leaned on Congress propaganda against the Modi government to mount pressure on India. 

In an article published by Global Times on September 5, allegations made by the Congress party against Modi govt has been used by the Chinese govt’s media house.

The reference to the Indian National Congress was made by the Chinese propaganda media outlet to dissuade the Modi government from embroiling itself in a border dispute with Beijing and risk losing the political capital to the principal opposition party. It was a veiled threat issued by the Chinese mouthpiece, alleging that any wrong move by the PM Modi concerning the Ladakh standoff might provide an opening to the Congress party, which is restlessly seeking to depose the BJP government.

It is noteworthy that the Congress party maintains a close association with the ruling Communist Party in China. In in 2008, the Congress party and the Communist Party of China (CPC) had signed a deal in Beijing for exchanging high-level information and co-operation between them. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) also provided the two parties with the “opportunity to consult each other on important bilateral, regional and international developments”.

Interestingly, the MoU was signed by the then Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and on the Chinese side, it was signed by none other than Xi Jinping himself, who was then the Chinese vice-president and standing committee member of the CPC’s politburo. The MoU was signed in the presence of his mother and party president Sonia Gandhi.

Moreover, during the Indo-China standoff on the Doklam issue, Rahul Gandhi had met Chinese officials multiple times. His meeting with Chinese officials during his Kailash Mansarovar visit in 2018 was kept secret, but later he had revealed it accidentally during a speech in 2019.