Srinagar/IBNS: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday claimed that even as everybody in Ladakh knows that a major part of Indian land has been taken away by China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "blatantly lying" about the issue.

While addressing a public rally in the Kargil district of Ladakh, Gandhi said: "Ladakh is a strategic place and when I went to Pangong it was clear that China has grabbed thousands of kilometers of Indian land.”

"It is sad that the Prime Minister of India announced during the opposition party meeting that not an inch of Indian land has been grabbed by anybody,” he said.

“This is totally a blatant lie as everybody in Ladakh knows that a major part of the land has been taken away by China from India."

He said whenever India needed the help of the people of Ladakh and Kargil on the borders during the war, they stood with the Indian army.

This comes a day after PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in South Africa where both leaders agreed to work for "expeditious de-escalation" along the entire Line of Actual Control (LAC), which witnessed tensions since the violent face-off in June 2020 in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley.

The two leaders agreed to direct relevant officials in their countries for expeditious disengagement along the LAC.

"It was a conversation with President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. Prime Minister had interaction with other BRICS leaders. In the conversation with President Xi Jinping, the Prime Minister highlighted India's concerns over unresolved issues along the LAC and other areas along the India-China border," Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters on Thursday.