Former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, echoing the party view on China in the Congress Working Committee meeting, on Tuesday said if the border crisis is not tackled properly, it can lead to a serious situation.
Endorsing party chief Sonia Gandhi’s view that the face-off at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh is a full blown crisis, Manmohan Singh said: “The crisis on the border, which if not tackled firmly, can lead to a serious situation.”
The CWC meeting was called to discuss the issue of stand-offs with China and Nepal. It was held to deliberate on the killing of 20 Indian soldiers by Chinese forces in Galwan Valley on June 15, Nepal adopting a resolution to print a new map which has Indian territory and also the situation due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The meeting comes in the wake of all party meeting convened by the Prime Minister last week.
Meanwhile, former defence minister AK Antony and Leader of Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad, who attended the all-party meeting of PM Modi, briefed the CWC on the border situation.
On Monday, Manmohan Singh, in a statement on the Ladakh clash, had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must be “mindful of the implications of his words and declarations” on nation’s security as also strategic and territorial interests.
This comes after PM Modi at an all-party meeting on Friday categorically stated that “no Indian post or territory has been occupied by anyone”.
At the outset, the Prime Minister clarified that neither is anyone inside our territory nor are any of our posts captured. He further assured that “we are capable and nobody can take even an inch of our land.”
However, the Congress took on the PM over his remarks of “no intrusion” demanding an explanation from him.
In a firm advice to PM Modi, Singh further said, “We cannot and will not be cowed down by threats and intimidation nor permit a compromise with our territorial integrity. The Prime Minister cannot allow them (China) to use his words as a vindication of their position and must ensure that all organs of the Government work together to tackle this crisis and prevent it from escalating further”.
The former PM further reminded the Government that disinformation is “no substitute” for diplomacy or leadership and added that the truth cannot be suppressed by having plaint allies spout comforting but fase statements.
Singh said the Government’s decisions and actions will have “serious bearings on how the future generations perceive us” and added that in a democracy, the responsibility rests with the office of the Prime Minister.
The Congress had on Sunday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the statement he made at the all-party meeting and then on the PMO’s clarification on the same.
The Congress alleged that the Prime Minister has contradicted his own ministers. “It is clear that Prime Minister’s statement of June 19, 2020 is in contradiction of the statements made by the Defence Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister and Army Chief,” senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal had said.
In an unprecedented violent face-off in Galwan Valley at the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh on June 15 with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army troops, India lost 20 of its soldiers.