NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a date for war with Pakistan and China, according to a senior official of the Bharatiya Janata Party quoted by the Press Trust of India on Sunday.

The news agency said the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh chief, Swatantra Dev Singh, told a meeting of party functionaries that Mr Modi had decided when the country would be at war with Pakistan and China.

The remarks were made on Friday amid tensions at the Line of Actual Control between India and China.

According to the report, quoted by several news outfits including NDTV and Indian Express, the BJP leader linked his claim to the beginning of construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya following a Supreme Court judgement and the abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the constitution.

“Like the decisions on Ram Mandir and Article 370, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided when there would be war with Pakistan and China,” he is heard saying in a video clip on social media.

“Sambandhit tithi tay hai (the date has been decided),” he said in Hindi.

Mr Singh was speaking at an event at the home of BJP MLA Sanjay Yadav, who released the video.

In his address, Mr Singh compared Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party workers with “terrorists”.

When asked about the remarks, local MP Ravindra Kushwaha said the UP BJP president made them to boost the morale of party workers.

Swatantra Dev Singh’s reported remarks appear to deviate from India’s stand, PTI said.

On Sunday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reiterated that India wanted an end to the border tension with China while asserting that it would not allow “even an inch” of land to be taken away by anyone.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2020