A Kargil war hero from Ladakh has said there’s a “difference” between what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said and what the ground reality is in the Galwan Valley, where Chinese troops killed 20 Indian soldiers on June 15.

“What the PM said today (Friday), that the Chinese have not taken any land or post, is a little surprising as the ground reality is something else,” Colonel (retired) Sonam Wangchuk, who was awarded the Mahavir Chakra for his role in the Kargil war, told the Leh-based news portal Reach Ladakh.

“Keeping in mind the media reports and the statements of local people there, I find there is a difference between (what Modi said and) the actual ground situation.”

Modi had on Friday said that “neither has anyone intruded into our frontier there, nor is any intruder there, nor is any of our posts occupied by someone else”, prompting questions whether he was endorsing the Chinese stand.

A day later, the Prime Minister’s Office sought to suggest that Modi had been speaking solely about the post-June 15 position, although he had said “neither has anyone intruded... nor is any intruder there”.