PM Modi's Statement Encouraged China To Maintain Stubborn Position: Congress

HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claim that no one has intruded into Indian territory has encouraged China to maintain its stubborn position of not retreating an inch, said the Congress party on Saturday. The Congress Working Committee (CWC), which met here, voiced its concern about security challenges in Manipur, Jammu & Kashmir, and the Chinese challenge on northern borders. 

Briefing mediapersons on the deliberations on the draft resolution, former Union Minister P. Chidambaram said the Chinese were standing firm in Opposition despite numerous talks at various levels. "The Prime Minister's statement at the all party meeting on June 19, 2020 that there is no foreign troop on Indian territory and that nobody intruded encouraged China to continue its stubborn position of not retreating an inch," he said. 

"What happened to the brave words of status quo ante. Nobody speaks about status quo ante. Remember, the first few days India's demand was status quo ante. Does anyone speak about it today? On the contrary, status quo ante is being changed every day, every month to our detriment. 

"More buffer zones are being created on erstwhile Indian held territory. What does that mean? It means we are losing our territory and Chinese commanding or holding that territory," he said. The CWC feels that the situation in both Manipur and Jammu & Kashmir is far from normal. 

"Manipur has been burning since May 5. It has been burning for the last 157 days but the Prime Minister found no time to visit the state," he said. The Congress leader pointed out that when the case relating to repeal of Article 370 was being heard by the Supreme Court, the government stated in the affidavit that Jammu and Kashmir returned to normalcy. 

"What we see is far from normalcy," he said referring to the killing of a Colonel, a Major, Deputy SP and rifleman by the terrorists. The party noted while this was happening in Kashmir, the Prime Minister and the BJP were celebrating the success of the G20 summit.