Row over Rahul Gandhi's Chinese tanks on Indian soil claim. What's the truth?

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s attempt to read excerpts from former Army chief General MM Naravane’s unpublished memoir led to fiery scenes in the Lok Sabha on Monday. Gandhi told the House that the episode he was referencing involved Chinese tanks entering Indian territory and attempting to occupy a ridge in Doklam, citing what he described as excerpts from the memoir that had appeared in a magazine article.

However, observers noted that Gandhi may have misspoken.

The incident he appeared to describe actually aligns with the deadly 2020 India-China Galwan Valley clash, not the 2017 Doklam stand-off, as corroborated by satellite images.

Just hours after the showdown, open-source intelligence (OSINT) analyst Damien Symon shared a 2020 satellite image on X that captured Indian and Chinese forces in a tense tank stand-off atop Rezang La, with both militaries just 370 feet apart and tanks in proximity during the border conflict.

While General Naravane served as Army chief from 2019 to 2022, the Doklam standoff occurred in 2017, several years before his tenure.

The article cited by Rahul Gandhi, however, pertains to events in 2020 during the eastern Ladakh crisis following the Galwan Valley clash. It describes Chinese tanks advancing towards Rechin La and Indian positions along the Kailash Range, incidents linked to the Galwan-era standoff, not Doklam.

The magazine itself has clarified that its reporting draws on Naravane’s memoir and is set in 2020, the year of the Galwan clash.

An excerpt shared online recounts a tense night in eastern Ladakh when Chinese armour moved dangerously close to Indian positions, prompting urgent military decisions at the highest level.