If The Balloon Goes Up, People Will Get Bloody Nose From Us: Lt Governor Of Ladakh B D Mishra's Strong Response To Rahul Gandhi's China Claims

Mishra was addressing a media inquiry regarding the claims made by Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Rahul Gandhi, who alleged that China had occupied a significant portion of Ladakh.

Gandhi's reference pertained to the Chinese blocking of Indian Army patrols to their traditional patrolling points of PP-10 to PP-13 in the Depsang Plains area.

Lt Governor Mishra clarified, "I wouldn't comment on anybody's statement but I will say what is fact because I have seen myself. There is not even one square inch of land which the Chinese have occupied."

When questioned about the gloomy portrayals presented by various politicians, Mishra emphasised, "The statement of fact is that our armed forces are prepared for any eventuality."

He further added, "God forbid if the balloon goes up, people will get a bloody nose from us," in reference to China.

The patrolling points of PP-10 to PP-13 are situated beyond an area known as the bottleneck, where, as the name suggests, Indian troops have to traverse on foot.

A few hundred metres away from the bottleneck area, there is a location called the Y-junction, from which two routes emerge.

The Chinese constructed a road behind the bottleneck area and installed security cameras to monitor the movements of Indian troops in the vicinity, in 2013.

As soon as they detect any movement of Indian troops, the Chinese deploy their troops on vehicles around the bottleneck area.

These developments come in the wake of Rahul Gandhi's recent call for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address China's encroachments on Indian territory, prompted by China's publication of a revised map claiming Indian territories of Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai China as its own.

Gandhi remarked, "This map issue is very serious but they have already taken away our land and the PM should say something about that too."

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, however, dismissed the significance of China's map, stating, "China has a history of publishing maps that include territories that do not belong to them."

Notably, Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a standoff along the entire Line of Actual Control, spanning over 3,488 kilometres for the fourth consecutive year.

This followed the violent clashes in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in 2020, which resulted in the loss of 20 Indian soldiers and a significant number of Chinese People's Liberation Army soldiers.