The Congress on Wednesday accused the Modi government of pursuing a “4C policy of continued, calibrated capitulation to China” and criticised its approach towards Beijing while raising concerns over the Great Nicobar project.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Centre had launched a propaganda campaign portraying those opposing the Great Nicobar Island Project over environmental concerns as being “soft on China”.
In a post on X, Ramesh termed the government’s stance “the height of hypocrisy”, claiming it came from an administration that practices “Continuing, Calibrated Capitulation to China”.
The Congress leader said it was the prime minister who gave an "inexplicable clean chit" to China on June 19, 2020, in a "brazen insult" to the 20 jawans martyred earlier in Ladakh.
"It is the Modi Government that has, in negotiations with China, given up traditional patrolling and herding rights in very many locations in Ladakh. It is under the PM's close watch that India had a record trade deficit with China of about USD 115 billion in 2025-26, much to the disadvantage of Indian industry (specially MSMEs)," he claimed.
Ramesh alleged that the prime minister has done nothing on the revelations of senior army officers on the absolutely pivotal role of China in planning, monitoring, and executing Pakistan's response to Operation Sindoor in May 2025.
"The incontrovertible fact is that India has to deal with the economic and strategic challenge from China on an ongoing basis across many fronts. But the Great Nicobar Island Project is overwhelmingly a commercial enterprise and the transshipment port that is part of it has no component of military infrastructure," he claimed.
Ramesh said ways to expand that infrastructure at INS Baaz and other locations of the Andaman and Nicobar Command have been suggested but are being ignored for long because the Great Nicobar Island Project that the PM is "bulldozing through" is, in all likelihood, going to be part of the sprawling "Modani" business empire.
"Sadly, that will have disastrous ecological and humanitarian impacts," the former environment minister said.
The Congress has been claiming the Great Nicobar infrastructure project will have disastrous implications for the ecology of the area, while the government claims the project is necessary for India's strategic capabilities.
(With inputs from PTI)