The Congress on Wednesday described as “blasphemous” foreign minister S. Jaishankar’s statement that India cannot pick a fight with China because that country is a bigger economy, and said this showed that the Narendra Modi government was not capable of protecting India’s territorial sovereignty.

“Our 20 soldiers sacrificed their lives defending our borders and the minister says we can’t fight them because we are a small economy. What exactly does he mean? Is he telling us that we are not capable of protecting our territorial sovereignty? We are not being able to look at China and ask them questions?

“What he is trying to do is essentially break and shake the confidence of our economy and demean the valour of our armed forces. This is one of the most blasphemous statements made by any foreign minister,” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said, reacting to an interview Jaishankar gave to news agency ANI on Tuesday.

“The soldiers who stand defending our borders in the snow, storm and rain have been told that we can’t confront China because that is a bigger economy. By that logic, no country should defend itself against superpowers. Does that explain Modi’s refusal to even name China and his infamous statement — na koi ghusa hai…?”

Jaishankar had avoided specifics while speaking on the Chinese incursions but had selectively dealt with two areas, arguing that the Chinese forces had captured them in 1962.

Without naming the Congress, he said the party was misrepresenting the situation and that it was wrong to say the Modi government was defensive. Without explicitly criticising China, Jaishankar argued that he would have to delve into history if “everything is blamed on the present government”.

The Congress ripped into his statements and fired questions at him. “The external affairs minister made some snide political remarks, some immature and cheap jibes but we don’t mind that. But what he said — China is a bigger economy and we are a smaller economy and we can’t go and pick a fight with them — is deeply worrying. He has questioned the valour of the Indian Army,” Shrinate said.

Then she listed the questions: “Will Jaishankar, who boasted about being the longest-serving ambassador in China, tell us when will the status quo ante of 2020 be restored? Why is trade with China increasing? Are we funding the Chinese army? Why is he not talking about the 2,000sqkm that the Chinese have grabbed? What about patrolling points 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16…? What about our territory being turned into a buffer zone? He says China is carrying out construction in areas it grabbed in 1962. So, shall we ignore that? What about fortifications on Pangong Tso lake, the DBO junction and Doklam?”

The Congress spokesperson asked if Modi and Jaishankar were suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome, referring to their reluctance to name China as a tormentor.

Shrinate said: “I want to bust a few lies here. The border was largely silent for 50 years after 1967, barring an incident in 1987. Why are there so many multiple incursions now? The UPA government in 2006 adopted the current active border infrastructure policy. The roads, tunnels, actively marked, were mostly planned by the Shyam Saran task force in 2006. Construction of roads, tunnels and high landing grounds for heavy aircraft began in 2008 and was largely completed by 2014.” This was a response to Jaishankar’s claim that the Modi government was actively building border infrastructure.

“The Indian Navy held exercises with the US Navy near the East China Sea in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2014. Is it not true that the Congress government sanctioned a 50,000-strong two new mountain divisions, and stationed armoured units in Ladakh and Arunachal? The Congress government activated four advanced landing grounds in Chushul, Demchok, Daulat Beg Oldi and Fukche and there are multiple other incidents of this,” Shrinate said.