Congress blames 'diplomatic failure' over face-off with China
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New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday blamed "diplomatic failure" of the government over the India-China troop face-off, saying despite the Prime Minister visiting China so many times, that country's troops have occupied a part of the Indian territory.
"It is important to remind the government of three facts: Since 1947, Modiji is the only Prime Minister who made 9 official visits to China -- 5 times as PM & 4 times as CM (Gujarat)," said said Congress Treasurer Ahmed Patel in a statement.
"Dr (Manmohan) Singh visited China only twice while Panditji (Nehru), Rajiv ji, Vajpayee ji and Narasimha Rao ji visited only once. Apart from them, other PM's did not even visit China. Despite so many visits by the incumbent PM, we have this situation on our borders," said Patel.
He said in 1967, the Congress government gave a befitting reply to China.
"India successfully inflicted huge casualties on the enemy, drove them back and won the confidence of Sikkim's people. It was a befitting counter to 1962 war," said Patel.
"For India-China ties, the present government coined a slogan 'Inch to Miles'. Was it meant for what is happening at our border or for diplomatic relations?" Ahmed asked.
Party leader Rahul Gandhi too has been demanding a response from the government on the present India-China face-off. Rahul demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly share facts about the standoff in Ladakh.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday responded by posting a 2017 tweet screenshot of Rahul, sarcastically saying that the Congress leader had a "parallel information system" in place on China.
"Rahul Gandhi is asking the Prime Minister to share in public facts about sensitive China border issues. I think Mr Gandhi has a parallel information system in place. Did he not meet the Chinese envoy during the Doklam crisis? He denied it initially, but accepted it after public outcry," tweeted the Law Minister.
