Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Narendra Modi government of celebrating the martyrdom of soldiers by cutting a cake with China and claimed that the steep tariffs imposed by "ally" US President Donald Trump would "completely devastate" the Indian economy.

Rahul, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, raised the issue of alleged land grab by China and the tariffs announced by the US during Zero Hour in the House.

"It's a known fact that China is occupying 4,000sqkm of our territory. I was shocked some time back to see our foreign secretary cutting a cake with the Chinese ambassador," Rahul told the Lok Sabha, referring to foreign secretary Vikram Misri and Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong cutting a cake last Tuesday to mark 75 years of diplomatic ties.

"The question is what exactly is happening to this territory?" he asked and attacked the government by referring to the fierce clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Galwan Valley of Ladakh in 2020 that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.

"Twenty jawans had been martyred and we are celebrating their martyrdom by cutting a cake," he said, stressing that he was not against the restoration of "normalcy" in ties with China but not at the cost of Indian territory. "We are not against normalcy but before status quo, we should get our land back."

Rahul seized on the tariffs imposed by the US to question the Modi government's foreign policy. "Foreign policy is about managing external relations; you have given China 4,000sqkm of land and on the other side, our ally has suddenly decided to impose a 26 (27) per cent tariff, which is going to completely devastate our economy," he said, adding that "our auto, pharmaceutical industries, agriculture are all on the line" to face the brunt of the import duties announced by Trump.

Rahul invoked his grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to target the BJP-RSS and the Modi government. "Somebody once asked Indira Gandhiji that in the matter of foreign policy, do you lean left or lean right? Indira Gandhiji answered that I am an Indian and I don't lean left or right, I stand straight," he said.

"The BJP and the RSS have a different philosophy. When asked to lean right or left, they say they bow their heads to every foreigner that comes...," he said.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur launched a counter-attack by accusing Rahul of making false allegations and asserted that not a "single inch" of Indian territory had been encroached by China under the Modi government. He alleged that India's land was captured by China when Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister.

"Whose government was in power when India's land went to China? They kept saying 'Hindi-Chini bhai bhai', but China stabbed us in the back. The Congress should explain what was the compulsion that China took over Aksai Chin and why they sat idle?” Thakur asked.