New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday demanded the Centre should convene an all-party meeting on Chinese border incursions soon as the government was not even entertaining questions related to the issue in Parliament.
“Let alone a discussion, the government does not even entertain questions related to Chinese border incursions in Parliament. We demand the Centre should call an all-party meeting and brief the senior opposition leaders on the ongoing negotiations with China,” Congress spokesperson and Lok Sabha member Manish Tewari said. “There is complete opacity in the government’s approach to the issue of Chinese incursions,” he said.
Questioning the government’s China policy, the Congress leader noted that Chinese incursions have been taking place along the Line of Actual Control, the de facto border, since 2014 in Chumar, 2017 Doklam, 2020 Galwan and 2022 Yangtse but the government was not allowing any questions from the Parliamentarians since 2020.
“As many 65 questions that I submitted since 2020 have been rejected on the basis of national security. The fate of questions from other members including from the BJP is the same,” he said. Referring to Doklam trijunction involving China, India and Bhutan borders, Tewari said he feared that China and Bhutan could soon have a border pact even though the Bhutan King has assured India that New Delhi’s sensitivities over the issue would be taken care of.
Also read: After India objects to China renaming places in Arunachal, Beijing claims 'sovereignty' over region
“It has been three years since the standoff started along the LAC in eastern Ladakh. The government must brief the senior opposition leaders on the summary of the negotiations that we have had with China. The government must take the opposition into confidence and if it does that it will only strengthen the government,” said Tewari, a former union minister.
Questioning the government’s response following the 2020 incursion, the Congress leader cited an example of the previous UPA government saying it handled the situation much better in 2013 when a similar Chinese incursion had taken place in the Depsang area. “The Chinese president had to visit India but an incursion happened at Depsang. The then UPA government handled the issue well which led to the PLA soldiers going back from the LAC,” he said.
According to Tewari, the situation along the China border has been compounded due to “the PM saying at an all-party meeting in 2020 that no one had come inside the Indian border and no one had taken any Indian land.” “Last year, SSP Ladakh submitted a written paper at a top police meet in New Delhi in which he detailed the border situation. The paper mentioned that we have lost access to 25 out of 65 patrol points along the LAC. This effectively means losing around 2000 sq km territory to China,” said Tewari.
“The PM has met Chinese president Xi Jinping 19 times and has visited China 5 times. At present, around 50,000 to 60,000 Indian soldiers have been deployed along the LAC. China has not honoured the various peace pacts that we had with them since 1993,” he said. According to the Congress MP, the $101 trade deficit between India and China was going to China’s advantage and probably fuelling the Chinese aggression at the border.
