Congress, on Wednesday, demanded that the Central government should take the people of the country into confidence on the recent agreement with China on the patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), touted to end the military stand-off between the two countries in eastern Ladakh.
Congress general secretary in-charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said, “Many questions remain to be answered about the Modi government’s announcement that an agreement has been reached with China on patrolling arrangements along the LAC.”
Quoting the foreign secretary on the agreement that is “leading to disengagement and an eventual resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020”, he said, “We hope India’s worst foreign policy setback in decades is being honourably resolved. We expect the disengagement to restore the status quo ante as it existed in March 2020.”
Cornering Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue, the MP said, “This sorry saga is an indictment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gullibility and naiveté regarding China. As CM of Gujarat, Modi was lavishly hosted by China three times. As PM, he made five official trips to China and held 18 meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, including a friendly jhoola (swing) session on the banks of the Sabarmati on his 64th birthday.”
“India’s standing hit its lowest point on 19th June 2020 when the PM gave his infamous clean chit to China, saying ‘na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai’ (neither anyone entered our territory, nor any outsider is ensconced within our borders). The statement was made barely four days after the clash in Galwan in which 20 of our brave soldiers made the supreme sacrifice. A profound insult to our fallen soldiers, it also legitimised China’s aggression and thereby impeded the timely resolution of the standoff at the LAC,” he said.
Ramesh alleged that the Modi Government’s approach to the “entire crisis could be described as DDLJ: Deny, Distract, Lie and Justify”.
In an apparent reference to the Opposition’s demand for a discussion on China in Parliament, he said, “Parliament was denied an opportunity over four years to have a debate and discussion to reflect our collective resolve to address the border challenge, as had been the convention under previous governments.”
“The Modi Government’s pusillanimous stance was underlined by the statement by the External Affairs Minister (S Jaishankar) in response to a question about its approach to China’s incursions: “Look, they are the bigger economy. What am I going to do? As a smaller economy, I am going to pick up a fight with the bigger economy,” he said.
Claiming that India’s economic dependency on the “bigger economy” has increased under the shadow of Chinese aggression, he pointed out that the Chinese exports to India jumped from $70 billion in 2018-19 to a record $101 billion in 2023-24, even as Indian exports to China stagnated at $16 billion. China is the top supplier to critical industrial sectors like electronics, machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and textiles. India’s MSMEs continue to suffer under the onslaught of cheap Chinese imports.”
“Having reached this agreement with the Chinese, the government must take the people of India into confidence,” the MP said.
Ramesh fired a volley of questions at the government over the agreement. “Will Indian troops be able to patrol up to our claim line in Depsang to five patrolling points past the Bottleneck junction as they were able to earlier? Will our troops be able to reach the three patrolling points in Demchok that have remained out of bounds for more than four years? Will our soldiers continue to be restricted to Finger 3 in Pangong Tso when earlier they could go as far as Finger 8,” he asked.
The Congress leader also asked if Indian graziers once again be given the right to access traditional grazing grounds in Helmet Top, Mukpa Re, Rezang La, Rinchen La, Table Top, and Gurung Hill in Chushul. “Are the “buffer zones” that our government ceded to the Chinese, which included the site of a memorial in Rezang La to war hero and posthumous Param Vir Chakra awardee Major Shaitan Singh, now a thing of the past,” Ramesh asked.