Congress leader Jairam Ramesh asked “when will anyone be held accountable for India’s biggest strategic and intelligence failure in many decades?”
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks four years ago when he said “nobody has entered our territory”, the Congress on Wednesday asked whether Mr. Modi still believed that “na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai?”
“Today is the fourth anniversary of Prime Minister Modi’s infamous public clean chit to China, when he said “na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai”. This statement came only four days after the 15 June 2020 clash in Galwan in which 20 of our brave soldiers made the supreme sacrifice. Not only was it a profound insult to our fallen soldiers, it also legitimised Chinese control over 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory in eastern Ladakh,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a statement.
“Indian troops are unable to access these areas to this day. Chinese forces continue to block Indian access in the strategic Depsang Plains at five patrolling points. Three more patrolling points in Demchok remain out of bounds for Indian soldiers. In Pangong Tso, our troops are restricted to Finger 3 when earlier they could go as far as Finger 8,” Mr. Ramesh alleged.
He said that Indian graziers are no longer able to access Helmet Top, Mukpa Re, Rezang La, Rinchen La, Table Top and Gurung Hill in Chushul. “In the Gogra-Hot Springs area, they can no longer access Patrolling Points 15, 16 and 17. This represents a major loss of territory to our hostile, northern neighbour,” Mr. Ramesh said.
He added: “to add insult to injury, India was compelled to dismantle a memorial to the war hero Major Shaitan Singh when it withdrew from Rezang La in 2022 and ceded the area as a “buffer zone”. Rezang La is the site of a heroic battle on 18 November 1962 when Charlie Company of 13 Kumaon fought off waves of attacks to inflict the biggest Chinese defeat of 1962. Major Shaitan Singh, who was posthumously awarded a Param Vir Chakra, and 113 brave soldiers gave their lives to defend eastern Ladakh, killing hundreds of enemy soldiers in the engagement.”
“Yet India agreed to withdraw from the very spot where Major Shaitan Singh gave his life for his country,” Mr. Ramesh said.
“Since the PM’s clean chit, China has continued its aggressive moves along our border, including in Bhutanese territory,” he alleged, adding: “it has expanded its influence in our immediate neighbourhood resulting in the removal of our troops from the Maldives. All this while our imports from China hit record levels, causing our MSMEs to suffer.”
“Meanwhile, the Modi government has used the Godi media and its control over institutions to ensure that there is no proper debate on the biggest setback to Indian national security in sixty years,” he said.
“The non-biological PM must end his silence,” Mr. Ramesh said, asking Mr. Modi if he still believes that “na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai”?
“Has he ceded control over thousands of square kilometres in Depsang and Demchok to China for the foreseeable future? And when will anyone be held accountable for India’s biggest strategic and intelligence failure in many decades,” Mr. Ramesh asked.
