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Questioning the normalisation of ties with China, the Congress Tuesday claimed that the neighbouring country was still occupying Indian territory. It said the Modi Government had not yet clarified if the situation along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh was the same as it was before the Chinese incursions triggered a military standoff.
“The Modi government has not yet satisfactorily explained to the country why this is the right time to normalise relations with China. Ever since the Chinese occupied 2,000 sq km of territory in Eastern Ladakh that had been accessed by Indian patrols until May 2020, the people and the Armed Forces of the country have held that the Government must insist on restoration of the status quo ante (previously existing state of affairs),” Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a statement.
Ramesh claimed that Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi had said: “We want to go back to the status quo of April 2020… thereafter we will be looking at disengagement, de-escalation and normal management of the LAC.”
On Monday, marking a major diplomatic breakthrough after the disengagement process between India and China was completed last November, New Delhi and Beijing decided on a slew of measures to improve bilateral exchanges, including resuming Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer this year.
Targeting PM Modi, Ramesh said these measures appear to be a continuation of the “pusillanimity” that led the PM to “falsely claim”: “Na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai (No one has entered out territory)”.
“Even as critical areas appear off-limits to our troops, this so-called normalisation will only amplify the trends whose only beneficiaries appear to be the Prime Minister’s cronies and financiers,” he said.
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