Congress fires fresh salvo at Modi govt over China, foreign policy

Continuing its aggressive stance, the Congress on Sunday launched fresh attacks on the Modi government over the issue of border standoff with China in eastern Ladakh. The party’s chief spokesperson, Randeep Singh Surjewala, on Sunday claimed that the government is creating illusion on Chinese transgression through media and the Chinese not only continues to occupy the Indian territory at Depsang plains and Pangong Tsolake but also still building additional army deployment which shows its bad intentions.

While addressing a virtual press conference, Surjewala also raised the issue of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s statement on Friday in which Singh said that talks were being held to resolve the border dispute but he couldn’t guarantee to what extent the matter would be resolved. While mentioning Rajnath Singh, Surjewala asked, “What is the meaning of the Defence Minister’s statement that there is no guarantee of resolving the issue through talks? And has the government accepted that it can’t resolve the issue?” He put five questions before the government and asked it to tell in how many days the status quo ante prior to 5 May will be restored and what is the government policy on it.

This was the second attack on the same day from Congress on Modi government’s foreign policy. Earlier in the day, Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma posted a series of tweets in which he targeted External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and questioned the Centre’s use of the armed forces for “partisan propaganda”.