Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that China was preparing for war with India but the Narendra Modi government was either asleep or unable to accept the grim reality.

“What I can see — and I am saying this for the last two three years — it is absolutely clear. They are preparing in full swing both on the Ladakh side and Arunachal side. Offensive preparations are on. And these preparations are for war, not incursions,” Rahul said at a news conference in Jaipur as the Bharat Jodo Yatra completed 100 days.

“Anybody who understands will tell you.... Look at their weapons pattern, what they are doing. They are readying for war. But the Government of India is sleeping over the threat. Our government either tries to suppress the factor is ignoring it, or is unable to accept the grim reality. But this threat can neither be hidden nor ignored.”

Rahul alleged that the Modi government was incapable of strategic thinking and believed in event-based responses.

“International relations cannot be dealt with (through) event management. You have to show the power. The minister for external affairs keeps talking about these issues but he should start thinking profoundly,” the Congress leader said.

The Congress has taken the border conflicts with China very seriously over the past two years, with Rahul warning the government in the Lok Sabha of a China-Pakistan axis that can catch India off guard.

But the government — which had initially refused to even acknowledge the transgressions in Ladakh with Prime Minister Modi saying no one had entered Indian territory — has steadfastly refused any debate on the Chinese aggression in Parliament. It continued to do so even on Friday, a week after a Chinese incursion bid in a fresh sector — Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh.

Rahul’s remarks about the lurking threat of war come at a time the Chinese aggression has been receiving little attention in the national discourse, now occupied with a film song featuring Deepika Padukone and the Modi “miracle” in the Gujarat elections.

Rahul wondered why the media did not ask the Modi government any questions on China.

More than 35 minutes into the news conference, he said: “Before I came to the press conference, while having lunch with my friend (K.C. Venugopal), I said to him, ‘I bet they will not ask me anything about China’.”

He continued: “Sab sawal puchhenge, aage-peechhe, dayen-bayen (they will ask all questions, front and back, right and left).... Yatra, Sachin Pilot, Ashok Gehlot — they will ask about everything except China. Not a single question about China, which has grabbed 2,000sqkm of Indian territory, killed 20 of our soldiers and are beating up our soldiers in Arunachal.”

Rahul added: “I was right, not one question on China. This is the truth.”

The next questioner, obviously taken aback by Rahul’s blunt questioning of the media’s priorities, said she wanted to ask questions only about China. Rahul firmly disagreed, asserting: “You remembered China only after my intervention.”

While several sessions of Parliament have over the past two years seen disruptions over China, the media has largely ignored the matter or ridiculed the Congress for persisting with the issue.

This despite the government’s confusion being manifest right from the start of the Ladakh incursions, when the defence and foreign ministries held several rounds of negotiations with China to de-escalate tensions — without Modi retracting his no-intrusion statement that had allowed Beijing to dismiss any charges of border transgressions.