Rahul Gandhi has a close relationship with gaffes, as he goofs up in almost every speech he makes. Today when he addressed the ‘Vijay Samman Rally’ organised by the Congress party in Dehradun in Uttarakhand, it was no exception. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi claimed that the USA defeated Afghanistan after 20 years, which is factually inaccurate.
He made the claim while talking about the Indian armed forces. Rahul Gandhi said that Indian forces had defeated Pakistan in just 13 days in the 1971 war, while most wars last for months and years. As an example, he said that the American forces defeated Afghanistan in 20 years.
There are multiple inaccuracies in Rahul Gandhi’s statement. First, the USA was not at war with Afghanistan to defeat it. Actually, the USA was the ally of the Afghan government and was helping the elected government to fight radical forces like Taliban and Islamic State. The second and most obvious inaccuracy is, the USA didn’t defeat Afghanistan after 20 years. In fact, the Taliban captured power in Afghanistan defeating the combined power of the USA and Afghan govt forces.
In August this year, the American forces hastily left Afghanistan following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, leaving a large number of military equipment behind.
Rahul Gandhi made other questionable comments on war and defence too. He said that when India defeated Pakistan in the 1971 war, it was not the victory of the Army or Navy or the Air Force. ‘That is not correct, every person, every caste, every religion defeated Pakistan together’, he claimed.
Rahul Gandhi repeated his pet claims in his speech, by saying that the government is working only for 2-3 rich people. He claimed that the govt has exempted the 2-3 industrialists from paying taxes, but refuses to pay compensation to farmers who died during the protests. The govt is doing it for 2 industrialists, he claimed.
Rahul Gandhi further claimed that demonetisation and GST are two weapons of the select industrialists that are being implemented by the central govt.
The Congress leader said that India was able to defeat Pakistan in 13 days because India’s economy was strong, and there was better coordination between the armed forces and the govt, but the situation is not same. ‘No matter how many photos of Rafale fighters are shown, fighter aircraft don’t win wars’, Rahul Gandhi added, returning to his other favourite topic, the Rafale jets.
Rahul Gandhi addressed the ‘Vijay Samman Rally’ organised by the Congress party in Dehradun during his first visit to the state ahead of the assembly elections. The rally was organised almost two after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed a rally in Dehradun, where he had also inaugurated and laid foundation stones for various development projects in the state on December 4.
