New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday sharply criticised the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi for his remarks on the India-China border dispute, saying such statements during his foreign tour are deeply misleading and damaging to India's reputation.

"The kind of claims he has made on US soil regarding the India-China border dispute are misleading and contrary to facts. It seems that while running the shop of love, Rahul Gandhi has opened a shop of lies. Rahul Gandhi should refrain from making such false statements," he said in a Hindi post on X.

In Washington, Gandhi alleged that the Chinese troops had occupied 4,000 sq km of land in Ladakh, the size of Delhi.

During an interaction with the Indian diaspora, the Congress leader had also cited the "struggles" faced by Sikhs in India. He had said, the fight in India is about whether a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear a turban or a 'kada' or go to the gurudwara.

In response, Rajnath Singh said: "The kind of misleading and baseless things that the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, is saying during his foreign tour is extremely shameful and hurt the dignity of India. He has said that the Sikh community in India is not allowed to wear turbans in gurdwaras, they are being prevented from following the tenets of their religion. This is completely baseless and far from the truth. The entire country recognises and respects the great role played by the Sikh community in protecting the culture of India. It is not befitting of an opposition leader to make such false statements about them."

On Rahul Gandhi’s statement on reservation, the Defence Minister said: “The NDA government wants to abolish reservation is also completely baseless. Our Prime Minister has strengthened the reservation system for the welfare and development of Dalits, Backward Classes and Tribals."