NEW DELHI: In its unabated showdown with the government over the China-India standoff, the Congress opened another front, targeting External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s comments on the issue in Parliament.
Contesting Jaishankar’s comments, the Congress sought to know why the government has never issued a demarche to the Chinese ambassador like the way it’s done with the Pakistan envoy. “The EAM says relations with China are ‘not normal’. Then why is our trade dependent on China?” asked Congress MP Jairam Ramesh.
Responding to Jaishankar’s assertion that the Army will not allow China to change the LAC status unilaterally, Congress asked: “When will the EAM unequivocally declare that restoration of the pre-2020 status quo is our objective?”
Listing four questions for Jaishankar, Ramesh asked if the status quo has not been altered by Chinese troops 18km deep in Depsang for the last two years. “Is it not altered by the fact that our troops are unable to access 1,000sq km of territory in eastern Ladakh that they earlier patrolled?” he asked.
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On Monday, Jaishankar targeted Rahul Gandhi saying the government is open to political criticism, but the party shouldn’t dishonour jawans. Jaishankar said the government has been saying that our relations are not normal. “Had we been indifferent to China, then who sent the Indian Army to the border? If we were indifferent to China then why are we pressuring China for disengagement today,” he asked.