New Delhi, (thestates.news) Attacking the NDA government at the centre on the India-China border standoff in Ladakh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said that the government has ‘gravely mishandled the situation’.
Addressing an emergent meeting of the Congress Working committee (CWC), the highest decision making body of the Congress, on the situation on the India China border, Ms Gandhi expressed the hope that ‘mature diplomacy and decisive leadership will inform the government’s actions in protecting our territorial integrity’.
Terming the India-China border standoff in Ladakh a ‘full-blown’ crisis, Mrs Gandhi said that the government is in a denial.
‘Now, we have a full-blown crisis on the LAC with China. The undeniable fact is that since April-May, 2020 till date, Chinese troops have committed brazen transgressions into our territory in Pangong Tso Lake area and the Galwan Valley, Ladakh. True to its character, the government is in denial.
The intrusion was detected and reported on May 5, 2020. Instead of a resolution, the situation deteriorated rapidly and there were violent clashes on June 15-16. Twenty Indian soldiers were martyred, 85 injured and 10 went ‘missing’ until they were returned. The Prime Minister was called out when he announced that “no one had intruded into Indian territory in Ladakh”,’Mrs. Gandhi said.
Charging that the government has ‘gravely mishandled the situation’, the Congress president said, ‘On matters of national security and territorial integrity, the nation has always stood together and this time too, there is no second opinion. The Congress Party was the first to offer its total support to the Armed Forces and the government. However, there is a growing feeling among the people that the government has gravely mishandled the situation.
‘The future is yet to unfold but we hope that mature diplomacy and decisive leadership will inform the government’s actions in protecting our territorial integrity. We urge upon the government that peace, calm and the restoration of the status quo ante along the LAC be the only guiding principles in our national interest. We will continue to closely watch the situation.’
Addressing the meeting, attended by senior leaders of the Congress, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Ms Gandhi said that the economic crisis caused by Covid pandemic and the crisis on the borders with China was attributable to the mismanagement of the BJP-led NDA government and the wrong policies pursued by it.
‘India has been hit by a terrible economic crisis, a pandemic of huge proportions and, now, by a full-blown crisis on the borders with China. Much of each crisis is attributable to the mismanagement of the BJP-led NDA government and the wrong policies pursued by it. The cumulative effect is widespread misery, fear, and danger to the security and territorial integrity of the country,’ Sonia Gandhi said
