New Delhi: Congress on Monday demanded a white paper on the Indo-China border issue and accused the Centre of not telling the truth.
Addressing a press conference here, Congress Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi in the Lok Sabha said that the party’s stand was crystal clear on the issue that the status quo prevailing on the LAC prior to May 5, 2020 must be restored at all costs and there cannot be any compromise on this.
“We demand that Prime Minister Modi take the nation into confidence about the Chinese threat and address a press conference with the Defence Minister and External Affairs Minister to explain the current situation followed by a White Paper. A dedicated briefing on the confrontation should be made to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence on the China situation,” said Gogoi.
He said that Parliament should hold a two-day debate and the government should appoint a full-time Chief of Defence Staff, a position that has been vacant for seven months during a critical period for our national security.
Gogoi also demanded the Withdrawal of the Agnipath scheme that threatens to demoralise our troops in a time of high national security threat.
The Congress alleged that more than two years after the border crisis with China began in eastern Ladakh, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strategy can be summed up with DDLJ: Deny, Distract, Lie, Justify. Speaking at an all-party meet on June 19, 2020, only four days after we lost 20 brave Indian soldiers in Galwan, the PM gave China a clean chit, saying: ‘Na yahan koi hamari seema main ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai’,” Gogoi said.
“India has lost the control of 1,000 square kilometres of territory where our troops could earlier patrol, but are now either blocked by the Chinese troops or are no longer able to enter because of disengagement agreements,” said Gogoi.
–IANS