'PM Should Break His Silence': Congress Claims Chinese Buildup Close To Doklam Plateau

A news report stated that the Indian military has expressed concern regarding a significant Chinese military buildup close to the Doklam plateau, said Congress.

An armed soldier stands guard at the roadside.

Source : File Photo/Getty

Amid the reports of Chinese development near the Doklam plateau, the Congress on Wednesday expressed concern and said it represents a grave security danger and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should break his "silence" on the issue. Jairam Ramesh, the general secretary of the Congress, said in a statement that the Modi government hasn't restored the status quo ante on the Line of Actual Control in three years. He urged the Union home minister to do so rather than making "misleading claims" about the situation.

"The Indian Army has expressed fresh and serious concern at the Chinese military build-up close to the Doklam plateau. Here is my statement on this grave security threat that even Parliament has been prevented from discussing for almost three years now," he said on Twitter while sharing his statement.

The Indian Army has expressed fresh and serious concern at the Chinese military build-up close to the Doklam plateau. Here is my statement on this grave security threat that even Parliament has been prevented from discussing for almost 3 years now. pic.twitter.com/fJ02QTEomr

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 12, 2023

He stated that a recent news report stated that the Indian military has expressed concern regarding a significant Chinese military buildup close to the Doklam plateau.

"These developments represent a clear threat to India's national security," he said in the statement.

Ramesh stated, "Yet the reality is that China prevented our troops from accessing 2,000 square kilometres of Indian territory after May 2020," citing Home Minister Amit Shah's March 9 statement that "we will not allow anyone to take even an inch" of Indian territory. 

He asserted that even today, Chinese patrols block our admittance to various patrolling points in Depsang, Demchok, Hot Springs (Kungrang Nalla) and Gogra Post.

"The Modi government has failed for three years to restore the status quo ante on the Line of Actual Control. We request the Home Minister to restore the status quo rather than make bombastic and misleading statements inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's infamous claim that 'Na koi hamari seema mein ghus aaya hai, na hi koi ghusa hua hai'.

"We are fully confident in the ability of the Indian armed forces to repel any Chinese misadventure, as they did in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh on 9 December 2022. But when will the prime minister break his eloquent silence on China, after having given it a clean chit in 2020? Or will his longstanding links to China, including those of his close friends the Adanis, prove too strong for him to comment at all," Ramesh asked.

Congress has been requesting that the situation at the China border be discussed.

The Indian Army had stopped the Chinese military from illegally entering the area in 2017 and forced them to leave.