Galwan Clash: Ram Madhav Slams Congress Govts for Pandering to Chinese Interests

BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav on Tuesday praised the Narendra Modi government for standing up to China's attempts to "nibble" at Indian territory along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and accused the previous Congress governments of signing bilateral pacts that suited Beijing's interests.

Madhav said the scenario changed after the Modi government came into existence in 2014 and decided to engage with China diplomatically more proactively while taking a firm position on the ground with regard to its expansionist tactics.

"This shift in policy led to the stand-offs in Doklam in 2017 and the present situation in Galwan and Pangong Tso," he said at a webinar on "Upholding National Security, Kashmir to China".

"While China continued to nibble into Indian side of the undemarcated LAC, the Congress government did not engage it militarily and instead went on to sign several bilateral agreements that suited Chinese interests," he claimed.

One such agreement, Madhav claimed, was that soldiers of the two countries will not carry firearms within two kilometres of the LAC. This, he said, helped China encroach upon Indian territory at many places in the North-East and Ladakh.

"In Doklam, we physically prevented China from constructing a road that would alter the tri-junction between India, Bhutan and China and allow it to occupy a position overlooking the chicken's neck at the Siliguri corridor," he

said.

Talking about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's criticism of the Modi government over the Galwan Valley incident in which 20 Indian soldiers were brutally killed by the PLA, the BJP leader accused the opposition party of being "irresponsible" and called its position on the issue "unexplainable".

Asserting that India has embarked on the path of becoming economically stronger and self-reliant, he said, people of the country are boycotting Chinese products out of their own choice after the barbaric attack by the Chinese soldiers at Galwan Valley in Ladakh.

"We are living in a democracy and have to respect the sentiments of the people," he said.