China may attack India anytime soon: Mulayam

NEW DELHI - Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav Tuesday warned the government he had “specific” inputs that China was preparing to attack India “anytime soon” and was “daily” occupying an inch of the country’s land.

He urged the government to take the China threat seriously because “everybody knows what happened in 1962″. “China is laying claim on several of our states, including Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and also Ladakh,” the former defence minister said in the Lok Sabha.

“We have specific information, and I am sharing it with the house that China has all but prepared to attack India. They can attack us anytime soon,” Mulayam Singh said.

“China is unreliable, the most deceptive (neighbours of India). They have occupied lakhs of square kilometres of our territory. China is occupying an inch of our land daily for the last so many years and has laid tarmac roads up to the border with India in preparation to invade us,” he said.

The Uttar Pradesh MP said as defence minister he had initiated a road laying programme on the borders with China, which it now appeared was not being followed as keenly.

He said senior army officers had been warning the government about the Chinese threat.

Mulayam Singh’s statement comes days after army chief General V.K. Singh remarked that India was “not sure” about China’s intentions behind developing infrastructure along its borders with India.

“China is doing a great amount of infrastructure development, which it says is for locals of the area. No bones about it, no crib about it. But our problem is we are not very sure about the intentions. And when intentions change, with this capability, things can go wrong. And that is what is a matter of concern,” the general had said.

Mulayam Singh said he wanted to know what the defence ministry is doing about the Chinese threat. Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Sharad Yadav supported his concerns.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said he would draw the attention of Defence Minister A.K. Antony to Mulayam Singhs statement and asked Speaker Meira Kumar to allow the debate keeping in view the relationships we have with our neighbours.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee assured the Samajwadi Party chief that the house will discuss this issue.