Govt should look eye-to-eye at China: Congress

NEW DELHI: Continuing its attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the India-China border stand-off, the Congress Party on Saturday said that the Union government should look ‘eye-to-eye’ at China and unequivocally tell them to retreat from their illegal and brazen occupation of Indian Territory.

Addressing a digital press conference here, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said, ”The times warrant India to look ‘eye-to-eye’ at China and unequivocally tell them to retreat from their illegal and brazen occupation of Indian Territory. Mr Prime Minister, this is the only ‘Raj Dharma’ that you must follow.”

Posing a series of questions to the PM and the NDA government, the Congress leader asked, ”They say that, “Pictures do not lie”.   Will the Prime Minister now tell the Nation:- Does the latest, and the first actual picture of Chinese occupation of our territory up to ‘Finger 4 Ridge’ in ‘Pangong Tso Lake’ area depict the truth on the ground? Is this Indian territory on which construction of radars, helipad and other structures have been built by the Chinese in a brazen act of transgression?”

Mr Sibal asked the NDA government whether  the Chinese have occupied our territory in Galwan Valley, including ‘Petrol Point ? 14’, where our 20 Jawans of 16 Bihar Regiment made the supreme sacrifice?

”Has China also occupied Indian territory in ‘Hot Springs’?” he questioned.

”Has China occupied our territory up to ‘Y-Junction’ (18kms. inside the LAC) in the ‘Depsang Plains’ threatening India’s strategic ‘D.B.O. Airstrip’, which is the lifeline for our military supplies to ‘Siachen Glacier’ and ‘Karakoram Pass’?” he asked.

Mr Sibal wanted to know what action did the PM and  the NDA government take on the statements by local people of Ladakh that the Chinese have occupied Indian territory.

”Isn’t it correct that the local Councillors of Ladakh, including BJP councillors, submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Modi, in February 2020, about the capture of our land by China? What action did the Prime Minster take? Had the Prime Minister acted, wouldn’t we have been able to pre-empt the brazen Chinese transgressions?” Mr Sibal said.

On the ministers in the government and BJP leaders hailing the PM visit to Ladakh to meet the soldiers injured in the clash between Indian and chinese troops in Galwan Valley , Mr Sibal said, ”Did former prime ministers of India, Indira Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri not visit the forward locations to boost the morale of our soldiers? Did Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru also not visit our soldiers in forward locations in NEFA in 1962 to boost their morale? But it appears that our Prime Minister stayed 230 kms away in ‘Nimu, Leh’.”

(agencies)