Congress, BJP cross swords
New Delhi: With former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh joining the bandwagon of attacking the government at the Centre on the Ladakh face-off, it seems Congress has no plan to take a backseat despite being accused of anti-national for not showing solidarity with the Centre on a critical national security issue.
However, soon after former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his first remarks on the Ladakh face-off, attacked PM Narendra Modi by saying that the PM must be mindful of the implications of his words and cannot allow China to use them as a vindication of its position, the war of words erupted between BJP and Congress.
Launching a scathing attack on former PM Manmohan Singh, BJP's national president JP Nadda said that he as prime minister "abjectly surrendered" hundreds of square kilometres of India's land to China and presided over 600 incursions made by the neighbouring country between 2010 and 2013.
In a series of tweets after Singh took aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his handling of the ongoing stand-off with China, Nadda said that the senior Congress leader and his party should stop "insulting" our forces repeatedly and questioning their valour.
While accusing the Singh-led UPA government of surrendering huge tracts of India's land to China, Nadda said, "Dr Manmohan Singh belongs to the same party which helplessly surrendered over 43,000 km of Indian territory to the Chinese. During the UPA years saw abject strategic and territorial surrender without a fight. Time and again belittles our forces."
Countering Nadda charges, Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, "Dear Nadda, please show courage to ask Modi government about 2,264 Chinese transgressions since 2015, martyrdom of 471 jawans and 253 civilians in Jammu and Kashmir alone, the highest in 30 years."
The Congress leader said that there were 3,289 ceasefire violations by Pakistan in 2019 alone, the highest in 16 years, up from 583 in 2014.
"Stop compromising on "national security" and India's "territorial integrity". This would be the biggest disservice to our armed forces and our 20 martyrs," Surjewala added.
Earlier in the day, while taking on Modi, Singh said, "Noting that disinformation is no substitute for diplomacy or decisive leadership." Calling upon the Prime Minister to ensure justice for soldiers who died defending India's territorial integrity, Singh said, "To do any less would be a historic betrayal of people's faith."
Singh said that this is a moment where we must stand together as a nation and be united in our response to this brazen threat. Noting that the country is standing at the historic crossroads, Singh said that the government's decisions and actions will have serious bearings on how the future generations perceive us.
"Those who lead us to bear the weight of a solemn duty. And in our democracy that responsibility rests with the office of the prime minister," he said.
"The prime minister must always be mindful of the implications of his words and declarations on our nation's security as also strategic and territorial interests," he said, adding that China is "brazenly and illegally" seeking to claim parts of Indian territory such as the Galwan Valley and the Pangong Tso Lake by committing multiple incursions from April 2020 till date.
"We cannot and will not be cowed down by threats and intimidation neither permits a compromise with our territorial integrity. The Prime Minister cannot allow them 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 Prime Minister said.
