Union Minister Jitendra Singh today played down the heightened rhetoric by Beijing over the Dokalam standoff, stating that India was fully equipped to face any challenge.

He said the government was confident about the steps it was taking in this regard.

“We are well equipped to face any challenge whether externally or internally,” Singh told reporters here.

The MoS PMO was responding to a question about the recent ’threat’ by China through its official media asking India to withdraw troops from the Sikkim sector.

“I think for us the more important thing is to see what we are doing. I am not here to respond to what somebody is tweeting from the opposition parties. We are confident about what we are doing,” he said.

China had recently said that it had conveyed its firm stand to India that it must take “concrete actions” by immediately pulling back troops from Doklam in the Sikkim section with “no strings attached” to resolve the current standoff.

The BJP leader also said that the government was giving “befitting reply” with regard to ceasefire violations on the Indo-Pakistan border, and was dealing with terrorism in Kashmir with a “stern hand“.

On appearance of militant Zakir Musa’s posters in Kashmir asking youths and students to keep away from Independence day functions, Singh said such posters have come up in the past too.

“The government will take a call on this. The more these (terrorist) leaders come up with such things, the more they expose themselves. The youths cannot be threatened by the diktats of these militants,” he said.

The Union minister also hailed the “proactive” role of security forces on the borders.

“It is going to reap results sooner or later. I am sure this (proactive role of forces) will bring terrorism to its logical conclusion,” he said.

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