An Indian Army veteran has said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's recent statement regarding the India-China border dispute is is incorrect and can hinder the ongoing talks to resolve the standoff.

While paying tribute to his father and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 79th birth anniversary in Ladakh, Rahul said that PM Modi's claim that not an inch of Indian land was taken by China's People Liberation Army (PLA) troops “is not true".

" Here, the concern is of course China has taken away the land...people have said that China's army has entered the area and their grazing land was taken away but PM said that not an inch of land was taken away, but this is not true, you can ask anyone here..." Rahul Gandhi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Speaking to ANI on Rahul's statement,  Lt General (Retd) Sanjay Kulkarni countered the Congress leader by saying that since 1950, India has lost around 40,000 square km to China and “our endeavour is that we do not lose any more of our territory to China".

"The talks are on primarily because there are two friction points Demchok and Depsang, that's where the patrolling is being restricted. But to say that we have lost will be incorrect...But to make such statements will be incorrect and nobody should make statements when talks are going on," Kulkarni was quoted as saying by ANI.

"However, since 1950 onwards we have lost around 40,000 sq km to China and our endeavour is that we do not lose any more of our territory to China. But to make such statements that we have lost here are just perceptions," the Army veteran said.

"It shows one against the other in poor light..." he added.