Nirmala Sitharaman hits back at Congress, says Nehru had washed his hands off North-east

BENGALURU: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday hit back at the Congress questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on Chinese actions on the border, saying the country's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru had washed his hands off north-east.

She said that in 1962, the entire north-east was "left to meet their own fate" and Nehru had washed his hands off the region.

"We have stopped Chinese from coming into Arunachal Pradesh. Our action speaks for it. So they (Congress) can go on saying 'Oh, Prime Minister doesn't speak. I want him (Rahul Gandhi) to please check up on what their first Prime Minister, our first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had said. He washed his hands off (north-east)", Sitharaman said.

She was responding to questions at a press conference here.

"If you travel to Arunachal Pradesh and some parts of Assam, people themselves will say. The people of Arunachal Pradesh at the ground kept steadily with India and every Chinese had to go away," the Union Minister said.

The Congress took strong objection on Tuesday to China renaming several places in Arunachal Pradesh, and charged it is the result of Modi's "clean chit" to the neighbouring country and his "eloquent silence" on Chinese actions at the border.

India outrightly rejected the renaming, asserting that the state is an integral part of India and assigning "invented" names does not alter this reality.

New Delhi's reaction came in response to Beijing announcing Chinese names for 11 more places in Arunachal Pradesh, which the neighbouring country claims as the southern part of Tibet.

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