'Should Answer': Congress Asks Six Questions Regarding Agreement With China In Ladakh
Congress general secretary in charge of communication Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday raised several questions about Prime Minister Modi’s announcement that an agreement has been reached with China on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The agreement to end stand off in eastern Ladakh was recently confirmed by China.
The two sides agreed for disengagement and resolution of issues in the Himalayan border areas that was arisen in 2020. The tensions grew with the 2020 Galwan Valley clashes, which marked the first fatal confrontation between the two neighbouring countries since 1975, causing the death of over 20 India soldiers. The relationship between the two countries kept stained since the incident.
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Stating that it hopes New Delhi’s “worst foreign policy setback in decades is being honourably resolved, the Congress termed the stand India took during the stand off with China was a complete indictment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gullibility and naiveté”. Jairam Ramesh recalled Prime Minister Modi’s statement at an all party meeting following the killing of 20 Indian soldiers while deterring Chinese border aggression that “No one entered Indian territory nor were Indian posts taken over,’ causing massive political storm.
According to reports, around 2,000 sq km of India-claimed territory was taken over by the Chinese clash as Chinese forces objected to Indian road construction in the Galwan river valley in 2020. As per the truce agreement, India and China will return to pre-2020 patrolling points along the LAC in Ladakh.
The Congress leader claimed the Prime Minister Modi gave clean chit to China. Stating that the clean chit legitimised China’s aggression and impeded timely resolution of the stand off, the Congress Rajya Sabha MP called the Union Government’s approach “DDLJ (Deny, Distract, Lie and Justify)”.
He said over the past four years, the parliament was denied opportunity to discuss the issue to address the border challenge, against the convention under previous government. He pointed out that the Prime Minister made five official trips to China and held 18 meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, including a friendly jhoola session on the banks of the Sabarmati on his 64th birthday. The Congress leader also questioned the External Affair Minister’s statement that “Look, they are the bigger economy. What I am going to do? As a smaller economy, I am going to pick up a fight with the bigger economy,” noting that the statement further reflected Modi government’s pusillanimous stance.
The Congress leader also noted that India’s economy dependence on China has increased under the shadow of Chinese aggression, adding the neighbouring country’s import jumped from $70 billion in 2018-19 to a record $101 billion in 2023-24 while Indian import to China stagnated.
“China is top supplier to critical industrial sectors like electronics, chemicals, machinery, pharmaceutical and textiles. India’s MSMEs continue to suffer under the onslaught of cheap Chinese imports,” the Congress said.
As agreement reaches, the Congress further demanded that the government must take the people of India into confidence and should answers to important questions such as whether 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.
Jairam Ramesh finally posed six significant questions:
- 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?
- Are our patrols permitted to access the three patrolling points in the Gogra-Hot Springs area that they could earlier go up to?
- Will 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?
Many questions remain about the Modi government’s announcement that an agreement has been reached with China on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Our statement on this key issue of national importance pic.twitter.com/VruDuzG2uG
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 23, 2024
