Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday expressed his delight at the pictures showing Indian soldiers hoisting the national flag in the Galwan Valley

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday expressed his delight at the pictures showing Indian soldiers hoisting the national flag in the Galwan Valley. The photos posted by Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju were perceived as a powerful counter to a video shared by the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times on January 1. In this video, China tried to spread misinformation that it holds complete control of the Galwan Valley.

Carrying the caption, "In the Galwan Valley near the border with India, under the characters 'Never yield an inch of land', PLA soldiers send new year greetings to Chinese people on January 1, 2022", it showed People's Liberation Army soldiers saluting their national flag. A day later, the Wayanad MP seemed to buy this narrative as he asked PM Modi to "break his silence" and give a befitting reply to China. Gandhi also cried foul over a news item about the construction of a bridge on Pangong Lake even though it was deep inside China's territory.

LAC Faceoff

The faceoff at the Line of Actual Control was exacerbated when 21 Indian Army soldiers including a Commanding Officer were martyred in the Galwan Valley on June 15, 2020, when the de-escalation process was underway. The Galwan Valley clash was followed by multiple attempts of provocation by the Chinese side at the end of August 2020. Multiple rounds of military commander-level and Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) meetings have taken place between the two sides to resolve the crisis.

Besides this, EAM S Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh have met their respective counterparts. So far, the armies of India and China have disengaged from multiple places, including north and south of Pangong Tso and Gogra. India has been looking forward to ensuring that the disengagement in the remaining areas along the LAC at the earliest. Maintaining that prolonging the situation is in neither country's interest, the Ministry of External Affairs has reiterated that disengagement might open up the possibility of de-escalation of forces and progress in bilateral ties. The disengagement is yet to be completed in friction points such as Hot Springs and Depsang.