Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “given away 1,000 square kilometres of land to China without a fight”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday, responding to the reports of disengagement between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh.
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Mr. Gandhi said China had refused to accept India’s demand of restoring status quo ante at the border as in April 2020.
“China has refused to accept India’s demand of restoring status quo of April 2020. PM has given 1,000 sq. km of territory to China without a fight. Can the government of India explain how this territory will be retrieved,” Mr. Gandhi asked on Twitter.
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Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said this was not the first time that “we are disengaging and creating buffer zones” in areas where the Indian side carried out its patrol.
“First it happened in Galwan, then it happened in Gogra and now it is happening in Hotsprings. Why is our Army being made to push back? Why is our Army being made to give up patrolling points where we had been patrolling up until now?” Ms Shrinate said.
Ms. Shrinate said the Prime Minister had promised the country that “we will go to status quo ante”.
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The Congress spokesperson claimed that the disengagement process was linked to the upcoming SCO summit in Uzbekistan where Prime Minister Modi is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jingping.
“Why is there no status quo ante as far as April 2020 is concerned?” she asked, adding, “We also want to know that with cheap publicity and cheap popularity with domestic audience, why is our foreign security and foreign policy being compromised?”
“Is this happening because China has seen chink in our armour which is that our Prime Minister is given to false propaganda, the PM is given to cheap popularity, the PM does not care about our territorial integrity or he does not care about our national security,” Ms. Shrinate said.