Questions remain, govt must take people into confidence on agreement with China on patrolling: Cong

PTI New Delhi: Days after India and China firmed up an agreement on patrolling by their militaries along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, the Congress on Wednesday said it expects that the disengagement will restore the status quo ante as it existed in March 2020 and asked the government to take the people of India into confidence on the matter. The opposition party’s assertion comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s bilateral talks on the margins of the BRICS summit in Russia.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said 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). “The Foreign Secretary has said that this is ‘leading to disengagement and eventually a resolution of the issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020’. We hope that India’s worst foreign policy setback in decades is being honourably resolved,” he said in a statement. “We expect that the disengagement will restore the status quo ante as it existed in March 2020,” he said. Ramesh alleged that “this sorry saga is a complete indictment” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gullibility and naiveté regarding China. Recalling PM Modi’s June 19, 2020 statement saying ‘Na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai’ (no one has infiltrated into India and no one is inside our territory), Ramesh said, “India’s standing hit its lowest point on 19 June, 2020 when the PM gave his infamous clean chit to China”.

“This statement was made only 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,” the Congress general secretary alleged. “The Modi government’s approach to the entire crisis could be described as DDLJ: Deny, Distract, Lie and Justify,” Ramesh said.

Having reached this agreement with Chinese, the government must take people of India into confidence, the Congress leader saidnd emandd answers to important questions on Indian troops patrolling up to Indian claim line.