The Congress on June 19 demanded a white paper on the border situation with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and asserted that it would press for a comprehensive discussion on the issue in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
Addressing a press conference at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters, former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Manish Tewari said three years ago, on June 19, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told an all-party meeting on the Galwan clashes that “neither has anyone entered our border, nor any post is in the possession of others”.
Mr. Tewari said the Prime Minister’s remarks were contrary to a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) a day before, where it had clearly stated that the Galwan incident took place because Chinese soldiers tried to intrude and set up tents on the Indian side of the border.
“As a responsible Opposition, we demand a comprehensive discussion on the India-China border dispute. We also demand that a white paper be issued on what is the truth of the developments that have happened on the LAC in the last three years,” the Congress leader said.
“There have been 18 border-level talks in the last three years. When there was no intrusion, then what is the truth of the continuous discussions for three years?” he added.
Referring to a document, presented by a police official in Ladakh earlier, Mr. Tewari asked if the claim that Indian forces have lost control over 26 of the 65 patrolling points on the LAC is accurate.
“Is it true that buffer zones have been created within our borders? What did the Government of India do to stop the transgressions on the LAC by China? Why was China not discussed even once in Parliament or the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Ministry of Defence?” asked Mr. Tewari, adding that as many as 66 questions posed by him in the past three years have been rejected.
Countering the Prime Minister’s 2020 statement that none had entered Indian territory, he asked, “Why did Defence Minister Rajnath Singh hold a two-and-a-half-hour-long discussion with his Chinese counterpart during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Moscow on September 5, 2020?”
Mr. Tewari added on September 11, 2020, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also held discussions with the Chinese Foreign Minister on the situation at the LAC during the Russia-India-China trilateral in Moscow.
Sharing a speech of Mr. Modi three years ago, in which he had said nobody had entered Indian territory and no one was in occupation of it, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Today three years ago the Prime Minister gave this clean chit to China. Just listen to him. It has hurt and will continue to hurt India very badly. His continued silence thereafter both in Parliament and outside has contributed to a weakening of India’s negotiating position,” the former Union Minister tweeted.
The Prime Minister’s continued silence on Chinese transgressions along the border has weakened India’s negotiating position, Mr. Ramesh added.
