For Modi standoff was event, Chinese still in Doklam: Rahul

London, Aug 24 (IANS) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he views the Doklam issue as an event and added that Chinese presence is still there.

Gandhi was speaking at an event in London in the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS).

"I don’t have the details of Doklam, so I can’t answer how I would’ve handled it differently. What I can tell you is that Doklam is not an unrelated episode, it’s not a one off, it is not a border issue, it is a strategic issue.

"It is a part of a sequence of events and Doklam was a crisis that happened because the government is episodic," he added.

Gandhi further said: "…the government and the PM view things very much from an event’s perspective. I view Doklam as a process, a point in the process. The PM views Doklam as an event."

He said: "So I would look at the process and I would tackle the process and I am pretty confident that Doklam wouldn’t have happened…because you could’ve stopped Doklam if you were carefully watching the process."

"The Chinese have withdrawn from the point of contact, they’ve withdrawn from where the altercation happened. (But) The truth is the Chinese are still in Doklam," he added.

Talking about what India can learn from China, Gandhi said: "Looking at the mobility in India, how do you transform air travel in India, how do open up the air space, that’s one thing India can learn from China.

"The other thing India can learn from China is decentralisation. In China, local governments run the system. In India, the PMO runs the system," he added.

"Let me tell you, today the PMO and CMO have veto all the way down. They have no business having that power, that power should be with the local government," he added.