Many questions remain on patrolling agreement with China, says Congress

Government must take people into confidence on the agreement, says Jairam Ramesh

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Russia, the Congress on Wednesday said it expected the disengagement process with China to restore the status quo ante as in March 2020.

In a statement, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said many questions remained about the Modi government’s announcement that an agreement had been reached with China on the patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). He asked the government to take the people of India into confidence on the matter.

“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. We expect that the disengagement will restore the status quo ante as it existed in March 2020,” Mr. Ramesh said.

The live updates of the BRICS summit here

PM’s ‘clean chit’

The Congress leader said the entire episode was “a complete indictment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gullibility and naiveté regarding China”.

Recalling Mr. Modi’s June 19, 2020, statement that “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]”, Mr. Ramesh said, “India’s standing hit its lowest point on 19 June, 2020 when the PM gave his infamous clean chit to China.”

He said the Prime Minister’s statement was an insult to the 20 brave Indian soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice during the Galwan clashes. “...it also legitimised China’s aggression and thereby impeded the timely resolution of the standoff at the LAC. The Modi government’s approach to the entire crisis could be described as DDLJ: Deny, Distract, Lie and Justify,” Mr. Ramesh added.

The Congress leader also asked some pointed questions regarding patrolling rights. “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,” he asked.

“Will our troops be able to reach the three patrolling points in Demchok that have remained out of bounds for more than four years,” he asked.

“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,” Mr. Ramesh asked.

The Congress leader also asked about restoring grazing rights 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?” he asked.

Published - October 23, 2024 03:56 pm IST