Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused senior Union ministers of “lying in order to protect the Prime Minister” after the father of one of the jawans injured in Monday night’s Ladakh clash with Chinese troops said the Indian soldiers were unarmed.

“It’s sad to see senior Government of India ministers reduced to lying in order to protect the Prime Minister. Don’t insult our martyrs with your lies. #BJPBetraysOurJawans,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted, also uploading a video of the jawan’s father in Rajasthan’s Alwar recounting to the media his conversation with his wounded son. The soldier, recuperating in a Leh hospital, had said the Indian troops were not carrying arms — “hamare paas kuchh nahi, khali the” — and were outnumbered by Chinese troops carrying rods and sticks, the father recounted.

In response to Rahul’s query as to why the Indian soldiers were sent “unarmed to martyrdom”, foreign minister S. Jaishankar had said on Thursday that the personnel were armed but desisted from firing during the clash with the Chinese troops in keeping with agreements and “longstanding practice not to use firearms during face-offs”.

Jaishankar’s comments on the killing of 20 soldiers at the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh had instantly raised eyebrows as many felt such information should have come from either the defence minister or the army.

Although Jaishankar had pointed to agreements, several former generals, including retired lieutenant general H.S. Panag, had pointed out that when the lives of soldiers or the security of a post or territory is threatened, the commander on the spot can use all the weapons at his disposal, including artillery.

“The (1996 and 2005) agreements say that firearms should not be carried during meetings. Protocols are advisories but soldiers can override protocols if their lives are threatened,” Panag had told The Telegraph.

In the video shared by Rahul, Balwant Singh, the elderly father of soldier Surendra Singh, says: “Got a call around 11-12 yesterday. I asked him, where are you? He said I am admitted in a hospital somewhere near Leh. He said we were 300 to 400 but they were more than 2,000-2,500. They came suddenly. We got trapped badly.

“They threw stones, carried rods and sticks. We had nothing, we were empty-handed. There was a scuffle, fighting. Somehow we escaped. God saved us. He said he got 10-12 stitches on his head, has injuries on the hands and legs also. He wasn’t willing to say everything over phone.”

Surendra’s wife also said the soldiers were unarmed. “Three-four persons pounced on him. He handled them. But he didn’t have any arms. It was by God’s grace that he survived,” she said.

Although the government cited agreements and protocol on Thursday, the Congress asserted that the 1996 border-management deal was meant for peacetime patrolling, not in situations of conflict.

The Congress on Friday ran a campaign with the hashtag “BJPBetraysJawans”, asking why visual evidence of Chinese build-up at the Galwan Valley was ignored by the government.

Rahul said in another tweet: “It’s now crystal clear that: 1. The Chinese attack in Galwan was pre-planned. 2. The Government of India was fast asleep and denied the problem. 3. The price was paid by our martyred Jawans.” Pointing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim of exceptional friendship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Congress wondered why the Indian leader failed to anticipate Beijing’s intentions.

The Congress tweeted: “The BJP’s denial and obsession with protecting the Prime Minister’s ego has jeopardised India’s international standing on the matter. We had the opportunity to isolate China diplomatically on a global level, our failure to do so gave China the upper hand & risked Indian lives.”