Ahead of Modi-Xi bilateral meet, Congress expresses doubt about border patrolling 'deal'

Posing six questions in a statement, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh asked whether the troops will be able to patrol in Depsang to five patrolling points past the Bottleneck junction as earlier and three patrolling points in Demchok that has been out of bounds for four years.

New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday said “many questions remain” about the Narendra Modi government’s announcement on reaching an agreement with China on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh even as it expressed hope that the country’s “worst foreign policy setback in decades” is being “honourably resolved”.

It asked the government to take people into confidence and provide more details, as it raised six questions on the contours of the agreement after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that the deal announced on Monday is “leading to disengagement and eventually a resolution of the issues that had arisen” in 2020 following the Galwan Valley clash.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh described the stand-off with China as a “sorry saga”, which is a “complete indictment” of the Prime Minister's “gullibility and naivete”, and referred to Modi hosting China thrice as Gujarat Chief Minister besides his five official trips to China and 18 meetings with Chinese president Xi Jinping.

Ramesh asked whether the troops will be able to patrol in Depsang to five patrolling points past the bottleneck junction as earlier and three patrolling points in Demchok that have been out of bounds for four years.

He also asked whether Indian soldiers would be restricted to Finger 3 in Pangong Tso when they could go as far as Finger 8 and whether patrols are permitted to access the three patrolling points in Gogra-Hot Springs. 

Another point raised was whether Indian graziers would be given the right to access traditional grazing grounds 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 added.

Ramesh alleged that India’s standing “hit its lowest point” on 19 June, 2020 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his “infamous clean chit” to China after the Galwan clash, saying “na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai (no one infiltrated into India and no one is inside our territory).

He claimed it came in handy for China as it legitimised Chinese control over Indian land that they usurped and delayed the resolution of the issue. “The Modi government’s approach to the entire crisis could be described as DDLJ: Deny, Distract, Lie and Justify,” he said.

Ramesh also alleged that the Parliament was denied any opportunity in the past over four years to have a debate to reflect on the collective resolve to address the border challenge. 

“The Modi government’s pusillanimous stance was underlined by the statement by the External Affairs Minister in response to a question about its approach to China’s incursions: Look, they are the bigger economy. What am I going to do? As a smaller economy, I am going to pick up a fight with the bigger economy?” he said.

“Meanwhile India’s economic dependency on the 'bigger economy' has increased under the shadow of Chinese aggression. Chinese exports to India jumped from USD 70 billion in 2018-19 to a record USD 101 billion in 2023-24, even as Indian exports to China stagnated at USD 16 billion. China is the top supplier to critical industrial sectors like electronics, machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and textiles. India’s MSMEs continue to suffer under the onslaught of cheap Chinese imports,” he added.