Salem:

The disengagement process by India and China in eastern Ladakh is “complete” after nine rounds of diplomatic and military level talks between the two neighbours, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Sunday as he hit out at Congress for “doubting” Indian soldiers’ bravery.

He also slammed the Congress and its southern ally DMK for “creating a controversy” over the Indo-French Rafale fighter jet deal.

It had blunted the opposition criticism that “chowkidar chor hai” (the watchman is thief), a barb aimed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and rather proved “chowkidar pure hai,” he asserted.

The pair of “lotus and two leaves” alone can bring prosperity to the state, he said, alluding to the respective poll symbols of the BJP and the AIADMK.

Speaking about the border stand-off, the Defence Minister said after nine rounds of diplomatic and military-level talks between India and China, a solution had been found, referring to the mutually agreed disengagement process in eastern Ladakh.

Troops and weapons have been withdrawn from the north and south banks of Pangong lake in that area.

“After nine rounds of military and diplomatic dialogue, the disengagement process is complete. But unfortunately, the Congress is doubting Indian army’s bravery…isn’t it insulting to the soldiers who do the supreme sacrifice,” he said.

Twenty Indian army personnel were killed in the Galwan clash with the Chinese troops last year during the face-off.

India will not allow any country to take “unilateral action” on its border and it will pay any cost to thwart such attempts, Mr Singh asserted.

However, the Congress claimed that India had lost territory to its eastern neighbour and tried to “defame us”, he said.

“Till there is blood and life in this body, nobody can capture an inch of India’s land,” the Defence Minister said.